AMERICAN LIBERTIES 



AND 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

MORALLY AND POLITICALLY 

ILLUSTRATED. 

By S. B. TREADWELL, 

ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



" Misirere civium tuorum." — Pity your countrymen. 
It is a bad cause that will not bear being reasoned upon." — Henry Clay. 



NEW- YORK : 

JOHN S. TAYLOR. 

BOSTON: WEEKS, JORDAN & Co. 
18 3 8. 



Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1838, by 

John S. Taylor, 

in the. Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 

Southern District of New- York. 



G. P. Hopkins &■ Son, Printers, No. 2 Ann-Btreet. 



DEDICATION. 



The following work is humbly and respectfully 
dedicated by its author to those of his fellow-coun- 
trymen, regardless of name or location, who would 
be more devoted to the highest and best interests 
of their whole country, and of all their fellow- 
men, than to pecuniary considerations alone, or 
to mere sect or party, as such only- 



INDEX. 



The following ie a list of the objections to the discussion of Slavery proposed 
to be answered ; in doing which, the Constitutional principles of our own free 
institutions and the fundamental truths of all just government, independent 
of sect or party, are attempted impartially to be illustrated. It is also con- 
clusively shown, that the slaveholding power in our country, has always been 
insidiously but rapidly undermining all our institutions : — 

SECTION I. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery at the north, be 
cause we are meddling with that which is none of our business, for it is un- 
constitutional," ...••• a S e 

SECTION II. -"lam opposed to the discussion of slavery at the north, be- 
cause it will do no good," . 

SECTION III. —"I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because it 

123 

makes a great excitement, • 

SECTION IV. -"lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because it will 
take away the property of slaveholders and bankrupt the south," . 137 

SECTION V. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because it will 
let the niggers all loose among us, and they will murder their masters and 
overrun our country as vagabonds," .... 151 

SECTION VI. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because my 
idea of republicanism is that we should aim at ihe greatest good to the 
greatest number, and there are more whites than blacks — therefore J go 
for the freedom of the whites, and for the slavery of the blacks," . 174 

SECTION VII. -"lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because the 
Blaves are so ignorant they could not take care of themselves," . 184 

SECTION VIII. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because it 
makes the slaveholders more cruel to their slaves, and instead of our dis 
cussions helping the slave, it puts back his emancipation and only makes 

195 
his condition worse, ...••• xam 

SECTION IX. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because the 
niggers are all thieves," ...••• *™ J 



VI INDEX. 



SECTION X. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, says an- 
other, because amalgamation would follow by intermarriages with the 
blacks," ........ Page 202 

SECTION XI. — "lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because the 
blacks are so extremely offensive, I cannot bear them about me," . 209 

SECTION XII. — "lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because the 
Bible tolerates slavery," ...... 224 

SECTION XIII. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because I 
think no better of abolitionists than I do of slaveholders," . . 229 

SECTION XIV. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
the slaves are not fitted for freedom," .... 231 

SECTION XV. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because the 
blacks are an inferior race of beings to the whites, and therefore made 
for servitude to the whites," ...... 234 

SECTION XVI. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because it 
is a religious or sectarian matter," ..... 249 

SECTION XVII. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
peace is so very desirable," ...... 293 

SECTION XVIII. — "lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
it is or will become a political subject," .... 295 

SECTION XIX. — "lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because I 
have been at the south, and I never was treated with greater kindness and 
hospitality, and the masters also treated their servants kindly, and they 
appeared brisk and happy,** . ... 332 

SECTION XX. — "lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
there are a great many amiable and highly respectable slaveholders, 
among whom are many distinguished ministers of the gospel, and other 
devoted and pious Christians," ..... 334 

SECTION XXI. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
there arc hundreds of good slaveholders who would gladly emancipate 
their slaves at once, if their laws would allow them to do so," . 340 

SECTION XXII. — '" I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because a 
great many people at the north don't treat their own domestics as tbey 
ought," 344 

SECTION XXIII. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because our 
greatest statesmen and our greatest divines are opposed to its discussion, 
and they ought to know best, and that it is only a few fanatics, weak 
minded men and women, who are in favour of discussing it," , 347 



INDEX. Vll 



SECTION XXIV. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because the 
slaveholders will dissolve the Union if we discuss it," . Page 352 

SECTION XXV. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because, al- 
though I hold to free discussion, and think the subject might be discussed 
in a way to do good, but these " modern abolitionists " are so denunciatory 
and abusive, and manifest such an unchristian spirit, I think the subject of 
slavery better not to be agitated at all, for it only excites mobs," . 3G3 

SECTION XXVI. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because I d o 
not believe in these people who talk so much about abstract principles of 
right and wrong, for I believe such principles are all moonshine, . 371 

SECTION XXVII. — •" I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
the north are already opposed to slavery, and that is enough, . 373 

SECTION XXVIII. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
the subject is so absorbing, that when men become engaged in it they seem 
to forget every thing else and become men of one idea, and they become so 
wrought up that their language is denunciatory," . . 377 

SECTION XXIX. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
females are engaged in it," ...... 380 

SECTION XXX. — "lam opposed, says honest Frank, to having slavery 
discussed, because slavery is right; and I am afraid that the discussion of 
it through the mere sympathies of the people would utterly abolish it, 
which I think would be wrong," ..... 384 

SECTION XXXI. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, for though 
slavery is a great sin in the abstract, it is a still greater one to say so, and to 
attempt to investigate it," ...... 386 

SECTION XXXII. — "I am opposed to slavery in the abstract, and believe 
it to be the great and crying sm of this nation, but think it inexpedient 
to discuss it just now," ...... 390 

SECTtON XXXIII. — "I am an abolitionist, am opposed to slavery, and in 
favour of its immediate abolishment ; but am opposed to the present leading 
abolitionists discussing it, because they sometimes intermingle in their dis- 
cussions some of their own peculiar sentiments on religious subjects, and 
I believe their discussions are injuring and perhaps overthrowing the 
Christian ministry and the Christian religion, and I believe I could discusa 
it far more orthodox," .... . 394 

SECTION XXXIV. — "lam opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
abolitionists will not go to the south to discuss the subject," . 401 

SECTION XXXV. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because- 
the slaves do not wish to be free," .... 408 

1* 



Vlll INDEX. 

SECTION XXXVI. — "I am opposed to discussing slavery, and to fasting 
on the subject, and praying audibly about it, or talking about it among our 
people, because it will divide our church, and when we travel south, we 
shall not be well received by our slaveholding brethren," . Page 411 

SECTION XXXVII. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
abolitionists are in number but a handful, and it is impossible they should 
be right, and all the rest of the world wrong," . . . 415 

SECTION XXXVIII. — "I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, because 
the subject is already perfectly well understood by the people," ■ 420 

SECTION XXXIX. — "I am as much opposed to slavery as anyone can 
be, and think it is a most dreadful evil, but am opposed to having it dis- 
cussed, because I am a colonizationist,''' .... 424 

SECTION XL. — " I am opposed to the discussion of slavery, and to eman- 
cipation, because the slaves are better off than the poor labouring white 
people are at the north." ...... 438 



COMMUNICATIONS 
TO THE AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER. 

TO SEYMOUR B. TREADWELL, ESQ,. 

Sir: 

The cause of the oppressed is one of deep and 
thrilling interest to us all as a nation, and infinitely more so to us 
as Christians. Whatever therefore shall tend to enlighten the 
mind, and bring it up to vigorous and prompt exertions in urging 
on the day for the liberation of the captive, should be eagerly 
sought out and put in requisition. 

On these premises, we lay before you the following proceedings : 

At a meeting of the Perinton Anti-Slavery Society convened, 
I. F. Benedict, Esq., Vice President in the chair, it was unani- 
mously 

" Resolved, that a Committee be appointed to wait on Seymour 
B. TREADWELL^Esq. and solicit for publication in the several 
leading Anti-Slavery papers of our land, his ingenious and highly 
valued address, delivered before its society, at the anniversary, 
on the fourth day of July, 1837. 

" Believing, dear sir, that your address is eminently calculated 
to enlighten the mind, and rectify its defects on this momentous 
subject, we doubt not your warm heart in this cause will prompt 
you to comply with what we in our instructions are directed to 
ask, viz., a response on your part, corresponding with the request 
in the aboee-mentioned resolution. 

With sentiments of esteem and fellowship, 

We remain, dear sir, co-workers with you 
In pleading the cause of the oppressed." 

ANSON P- BROOKS, > Committee 
JUSTUS BEARDSLEY, \ Commtttee - 

REPLY. 
It is proper here to say to the above named Committee, and 
through them to all the individuals composing the respectable 



X COMMUNICATIONS. 

meeting before whom the address alluded to was delivered, that, 
owing to its length, it was thought not advisable to offer it for 
publication in the Anti-Slavery Journals. 

But by the advices and solicitations of his friends, and from a 
desire to render himself, if possible, more extensively useful in the 
cause of the oppressed and his whole beloved country, the author 
has incorporated its leading principles in the following work, 
hoping it may be equally acceptable. 

S. B. Treadwell. 

P. S. This letter and reply are published in this connexion, as 
explanatory of some of the views found in this work, and also as 
an apology due to all interested in the request for the publication 
of said address, as no direct reply to the request had heretofore 
been made. 



The following are among some of the letters and notes addressed 
to the publisher and the author of this volume by gentlemen who 
have read the work in the manuscript, or in the sheets as they 
came from the press : — 

Rochester, 7 th February, 1838. 

S. BOUGHTON TREADWELL, ESQ,. 

Dear Sir : 

I have read a large portion of your manuscript, 
but have been so pressed by other claims upon my time, that I 
could not read it all ; and return it in the lime you set. 

I find what I have read full of a good spirit, with many striking, 
and sound, and useful views ; and will thank you to direct that a 
copy be sent me of the whole work, as soon as it comes from the 
press, on such terms as apply to others. 

Respectfully your obedient servant, 

MYRON HOLLEY. 

[Since the above was written, considerable additions have been 
made to this work.] 



COMMUNICATIONS. Xi 

MR. JOHN S. TAYLOR, 

Dear Sir: 

I have perused, with very great satisfaction, 
a manuscript copy of "American Liberties and American Slave- 
ry, by S. B. Treadwell, Esq. ;" a work which I understand you 
are about to publish. 

I believe this book to be peculiarly adapted to disarm existing 
prejudices, and to ^confirm in the principles of eternal justice, and 
true national policy, that portion of our great community whose 
minds are yet undecided, and consequently open to the plain de- 
ductions of sound unsophisticated reason, on the exciting ques- 
tion of Slavery in the United States. 

DUNCAN DUNBAR, 
Pastor of the McDougal-st. Baptist Church. 
New -York, June 4, 1838. 

In the above opinion, I most cheerfully concur. 

A. LIBOLT, M. D. 
New- York, June 4, 1838. 

I believe this work will be highly useful. 

A. DOOLITTLE, M. D. 

New- York, June 5, 1838. 

MR. J. S. TAYLOR, 

Sir: 
I most cheerfully concur in the above recommendations of this 
valuable work of which you are the Publisher, and would add, 
that from the very clear and conclusive illustrations of the author, 
I know of no publication so well calculated to meet all the ob- 
jections, not only to the right, but to the perfect safety of all con- 
cerned, of immediate emancipation ; and also the objections to am- 
ply discussing all topics relating both to the liberties and to the 

slavery of our whole country. 

ROBERT SEARS. 

New- York;, June 6, 1838, 



Xll COMMUNICATIONS. 

Rochester, February 26, 1838. 

S. B. TREAD WELL, ESQ. 

Sir: 

Your work on "Liberty and Slavery" I have care- 
fully read in the manuscript, and highly approve of the manner in 
which civil, social, and religious rights are therein treated. These 
topics I think are there impartially and thoroughly discussed, 
which cannot but render this work valuable to every American 
citizen, an important auxiliary to the cause of truth, and interest- 
ing to all engaged in benefiting mankind. 

Respectfully yours, 

HENRY C. FRINK. 

New- York, June 6, 1838. 
MR. J. S. TAYLOR, 

Sir: 
In accordance with your request I have examined most of 
the MS. copy of Mr. S. B. Treadwell's work on " American 
Liberties and American Slavery," with more than ordinary satis- 
faction. The popular manner in which the subject is treated, meets 
the objector on his own ground, and renders it useful to the removal 
of the very crude and false ideas entertained by a large class of 
the American people, on the important subject of Human Rights. 

As such, I am happy to recommend this work. 

THEODORE WRIGHT, 
Pastor of the 1st Coloured Presbyterian Church, N. T. 

I cheerfully concur in the above recommendation. 

SAMUEL E. CORNISH, 
Editor of the Coloured American, N. Y. 

MR. J. S. TAYLOR, 
Sir: 

I have read with much pleasure, illustrations of 
"American Liberties and American Slavery, by S. B. Treadwell , 
Esq.," of which you are the Publisher. As one of the people, 
the writer well understands the palseying circumstances attend- 



COMMUNICATIONS- Xlll 

ant on the would-be popular watchmen in authority, whether in 
the " chair of state," on the " walls of Zion," or in charge of that 
t ' life or death," the Press. 

Let the people thus awake themselves to watchfulness of the 
dangers and destiny that bethreaten us, and we will never de- 
spair of our republic. 

You will please consider me as interested to see that the work 
circulates among my acquaintances. 

NEH. BROWN, 

Presby. Clergyman. 
New- York, June 6, 1838. 



I think the work of Mr. Treadwell will contribute to the 
advancement of the cause of liberty, and of social order. 

N. E. JOHNSON, 

Ed. Evangelist. 
New- York, June 6, 1838. 



ERRATA. 

Page G5, 3d line from the top, for " called for the safety " — read, "called 

for, for the safety," &c. 
" 110, 11th line from the top, for " country" — read, " world." 
" 222, 7th line from the top, for "tall sturdy oaks ;" read, " tall cedars." 
" 226, 14th line from the top, for "snuffeth "— read " puffeth." 
" 408, 7th line from the commencement of the Section, should read, 

"that while we were not permitted to speak for ourselves, we did 

not wish to be free." 



PREFACE. 



The publication of the following brief replies to forty 
objections to the discussion of slavery, and remarks up- 
on constitutional liberty of speech and the press upon 
colonization and the slave laws, was first thought of by 
the author, through the suggestion of some of his friends, 
who are also the friends of the oppressed, soon after 
his first public address on the subject. His object in 
publishing them in book instead of pamphlet form, was 
the belief that if they could in any degree be useful in 
subserving the cause of humanity and his country, they 
might, through booksellers, obtain a more extensive pub- 
licity. It will be readily seen, that throughout these 
hasty and brief remarks, little more is done than barely 
to suggest some thoughts upon which others who have 
more leisure, more patience, and more ability, might 
improve, for the benefit of their country and their fellow 
men. It will be seen also, that the opposition to the 
anti-slavery principles and proceedings of the day, or to 
immediate emancipation, and the opposition to freely 
discussing the whole subject of slavery, are considered 
in these remarks to be entirely identified ; as all who 
are really in favour of fairly and freely discussing any 
subject, must of course, not only be willing simply, but 
would be desirous also, and even anxious to hear and 
to see all sides of it, and to have every possible view of 

2 



XIV PREFACE. 



the whole subject presented, that they might in regard to 
it, be enabled thereby to judge correctly and impartially. 
Like an honest and candid juryman, called to judge of 
important interests between his fellow-men, he would of 
course desire that all the testimony relevant to the case 
under consideration, might be adduced. 

Though the people did once, from an extraneous and 
forestalling influence hastily seem to condemn the free 
discussion of this subject, still it is now confidently be- 
lieved that the more enlightened part of them at least 
have seen their error, and are beginning to feel that we 
might about as well stop the pulsations of life in the 
human system and say it might yet long survive, as to 
stop free discussion and the free circulation of intelli- 
gence in a free government upon any plausible or party 
pretext whatever, and expect it could long be a free 
government still. The human mind, with its irrepressi- 
ble energies, has well been compared to imprisoned 
steam : the more it is pressed the higher it rises, until 
at length, it will, in some way, find vent. 

The author of these brief replies does not claim the 
high honour of presenting more important views on this 
deeply interesting subject than many others, whose at- 
tention was much earlier called to it than his own ; but 
perceiving that the present discussions in the anti-slave- 
ry publications are mostly designed, as well as emi- 
nently calculated to interest those who have more par- 
ticularly attended to the progress of the discussions of 
the subject through its different stages thus far, it was 
thought that a publication in the form of brief replies to 
the prevailing objections to the discussion of slavery and 
immediate emancipation, (though often in themselves, 



PREFACE. XV 

very trivial ones,) would find favour with some (the ar- 
guments being addressed to the plain common sense of 
all) who should feel disposed, if from no higher motives 
at first than curiosity, to hear what might be said in an- 
swer to the great variety of objections herein considered. 
The subject is also considered somewhat at length in 
its political, moral, and social influence upon our own 
nation and the world. 

No apology is here deemed necessary or called for, 
in this our " happy land of freedom" for even the most 
humble and obscure individual, most freely and fully 
offering his views to the public, on any and all subjects 
which he may deem as pertaining to the highest and best 
interests of his fellow-men and of his country. 

The Siamese twins, being coupled together by an in- 
separable fate, and of course, surrounded at all times 
by the same circumstances, are always subject to like 
impressions ; and the consequence is, that they are 
known never to communicate to each other. There will 
therefore forever remain with them an identity of person ; 
a perfect oneness of mind. The important lesson which 
it is thought might be drawn from this interesting and 
extraordinary fact, is, the immense advantage to be de- 
rived in the common intercourse of eivilized life from 
free discussion, by comparing mind with mind, by in- 
terchange of thought and sentiment, that the people may 
ultimately arrive at correct conclusions on all subjects 
for the highest possible good of individuals, of commu- 
nities, and of nations. If, therefore, the views which 
are found upon the few following pages, are not found- 
ed in truth, it is sincerely hoped, that by free and ample 
discussion, it will be shown for the general good of all 



XVI PREFACE. 

concerned. Should they not prove so to be, on a care- 
ful examination, the author would most certainly desire 
to see them blown aside like chaff before the wind. He 
does at present feel considerable assurance, that his 
views in the main, however frankly avowed and plainly 
expressed, will find a ready and a cordial response in 
the hearts and the good common sense of at least a re- 
spectable portion of his esteemed fellow citizens. On 
the other hand, he is fully aware of the prejudices and 
the opposition which his views must meet with, and that 
too from some, whose good opinion and confidence he 
would sacrifice much to retain, except the compromise 
of principle. 

The author is the uncompromising advocate for free 
and lawful discussion in its broadest and most unlimited 
sense, — that is of our being accountable to constitu- 
tional laws only, for its abuse. He considers those who 
differ with him in opinion, have as good a right to differ 
and to give their reasons for thus differing, as he has to 
differ from them and to give his reasons for the differ- 
ence. He also believes, that no one should by any 
means be deterred from publicly discussing a subject 
upon which there are a diversity of opinions ; for this is 
the very subject, of all others, that calls loudest for dis- 
cussion, and which ought most to be discussed. On all 
subjects upon which there is, and perhaps can be, but one 
opinion, it is at once obvious that no discussion what- 
ever is called for ; and that man who waits for a majority 
of the people to be with him before he will dare grapple 
with and discuss a subject, is like a cowardly soldier 
who lags behind his brave and more valiant comrades 
until the battle is won, and will then " bring up the rear 



PREFACE. XV11 

and shout victory ! victory ! at the top of his voice." 
As to this subject being regarded as a political one, in a 
party sense, so far from it is the fact, that leading 
party politicians of every name have always been, and, 
as they treat every other unpopular subject, regardless 
of abstract right, they are still giving it (as the phrase is) 
more " kicks than coppers," that it should by no means 
attach itself either to their persons or to their political 
party. Like the proud ungenerous man who denied 
that he ever knew the name of his poor but worthy 
friend, because his exterior was such as he imagined 
would not reflect credit upon himself and his family. 

The author can truly say, that so far as this subject 
is concerned, he desires to know no man's party politics, 
believing that it has nothing to gain but much to lose by 
an identity with any political party whatever. He fully 
believes, that if the moral sense of the good people of 
these United States does not abolish their slavery, that 
it never will be abolished ; and should this prove so, and 
we remain one people, we are forever destined to be a 
slave-holding nation. 

It may be, however, that should the free discussion of 
this subject be yet strenuously opposed, or any unwise 
or despotic attempts at legislation should be made to 
prevent its farther investigation, the right of petition 
upon it tyrannically denied, or that reckless mob, or 
brute force should continue its outrages, ravages, and 
death, much longer to put it down, that the people, en 
masse, would come forth in their might, if not as aboli- 
tionists, yet as the fearless unconquerable advocates of 
their last hope, the constitutional right of petition, free 
discussion, and the liberty of the press ; and by their 

2* 



XVlll PREFACE. 

honest defence of these, their great, first and last, 
Heaven-descended rights, a sympathy between the 
people and professed abolitionists, might, and probably 
would, unavoidably be felt, from the fact, that upon 
some great leading and all-important principles, they 
would most cordially agree. If we have no particular 
evidence that one is partial to us, still we are prone to 
regard him with at least some favour, who is particularly 
partial, and doing many kind offices to cur best friend. 

It is believed, moreover* that most men are already 
abolitionists in sentiment, and it is hopeful that they will, 
ere long be, in consistent practice ; for even the best 
principles lying dormant in the human heart, like " a 
candle under a bushel," can be of no service whatever 
to mankind. To exert a good influence, good princi- 
ples must be openly avowed and consistently acted upon. 

The author desires to make the request of those into 
whose hands his remarks may chance to fall, that, in the 
first place, they would grant him a fair constitutional 
trial ; that is, of not being rashly or hastily condemned, 
" contrary to law and testimony," unheard and uncon- 
sidered ; and that they would not let prejudice prevent 
them from giving his remarks, at least, a cursory perusal. 
And if, after having looked impartially at all the facts 
and arguments he has presented, they cannot yet think 
with him, that they would still do him the special favour 
to believe that he has at least intended well to his fellow- 
men and to his country. He could indeed have rejoiced 
to have seen this all-important subject discussed upon 
the plan he has proposed, by an abler pen than his own ; 
but he felt unwilling to pass off the stage of life without 
leaving behind him, at least some humble testimony of 



PREFACE. XIX 

the light in which he regarded this most thrilling subject, 
both to the philanthropist, the christian, and the patriot, 
as being entirely identified, as he considers it, with the 
destinies of millions of his coloured countrymen not 
only, but with the destinies of his whole beloved country. 
He has therefore respectfully, briefly submitted his gen- 
eral views upon it to his friends and fellow-citizens, not 
as unexceptionable in classical correctness, but rather, 
as the sentiments of his heart. And he is not only wil- 
ling, but greatly desirous, that all his fellow-countrymen, 
and all his fellow men throughout the world, should ever 
enjoy the same high, underived, and invaluable boon 
from their Creator, the privilege of thinking and of ex- 
pressing their thoughts unrestrained in any manner, by 
the rude and profane hand of tyranny. 

How much soever his language in some instances 
may very possibly grate upon some ears, he has never- 
theless endeavoured to bridle his pen, and has not dared 
to trust himself to speak out the deep indignation of his 
soul against slavery in all its abominations, (or more 
strictly slave-holding,) and also against the slave-holder 
himself, when he knows he should break the accursed 
yoke from the neck of his fellow man and let him go 

free. 

It would be strange if language might not be found in 
the following pages, in some instances, even literally to 
convey a different impression from what was intended ; 
and perhaps in many instances it might easily be made 
to speak entirely different both from its literal sense and 
the design of its author. In all this, however, he most 
cheerfully confides in the good sense and the candour 
of his reader to put such a construction only, as the 



XX PREFACE. 

general views of the author would seem to justify. It 
is confidently believed that no American citizen calling 
himself a true republican, will take it for granted that no 
production can possibly be worthy his perusal, because, 
forsooth, it may not have emanated from some one high 
up on the list of fame ; for this kind of sycophancy is 
most certainly derogatory to the true dignity of free- 
men, for it is only bowing down and doing reverence to 
ARISTOCRACY. When a new work makes its appear- 
ance, there is sometimes a certain class, instead of read- 
ing it, will quite content themselves by asking the idle 
questions, Who the author is, or what he is ; what his 
religion is ; what his politics are ; where he received 
his education, &c. &c. All this, too, is considered to 
be but the effect of a strong predisposition in human na- 
ture to aristocracy instead of democracy. 

In reply to any such inquiries, the author would just 
say in brief, that he professes to be one of, and one with, 
the people, — making no extraordinary pretensions to 
wisdom above his fellow-men ; and also, that he claims 
to be an independent American freeman, and hopes by 
the favour of Heaven ever to remain so. 

And whatever political or religious creed he may be 
of, or whether learned or unlearned, rich or poor, co- 
loured or uncoloured, he deems it altogether out of place 
here to obtrude considerations of this nature upon public 
attention, presuming others, like himself, to be entirely 
unable to conceive how any of these things, can possibly 
in the remotest sense, affect an argument or alter a fact 
which may be found in the following work. 

It is supposed to be granted that all, honestly in search 
of truth, are desirous, and also expecting, whenever they 



PREFACE. XXI 

succeed, to behold her disencumbered of incongruous 
and unseemly appendages, and to embrace her in her 
native costume ; the irresistibly attractive beauty of 
simplicity ; ever accompanied with true harmony, ele» 
gance, and grandeur. 



INTRODUCTION. 



My Friends, — When I was called upon by your com- 
mittee, to address this meeting on this occasion, I hesi- 
tated whether to do it verbally or to commit my views 
to writing.* Fearing I might omit to state some im- 
portant facts, I determined within the last few days on 
the latter. In commencing my remarks, it is proper for 
me to apprize you that I am not a professional man, and 
have not therefore been much accustomed to public 
speaking, and that this is the first time that I have ever 
attempted to address an audience on this subject. But 
from my convictions of the great importance of the cause 
for my fellow men and for my country, I found myself 
unable to decline an invitation to do so. I have there- 
fore somewhat hastily embodied some facts on this sub- 
ject which to me appear important for all to know, with 
such comments upon them as I thought were proper and 
called for, hoping, although some of the facts and argu- 
ments cannot be expected to be new to all of you, that 
at least some little good may be done towards effecting 
the peaceful and speedy emancipation of two and a half 
millions of our long and greatly oppressed fellow beings 

* Introduction to the author's address before the anniversary of 
an Anti-Slavery Society ; which address he was invited to give for 
publication, according to the letter of the committee, and his reply 
to it as herein prefixed. 



XXIV INTRODUCTION. 

and fellow countrymen, in our so much boasted land of 
" liberty and equal rights." I have myself, as it were, 
but just emerged from the spell of thick darkness in 
which I have been so long shrouded in relation to this 
great and absorbing subject. It can therefore hardly be 
presumed that I should yet have possessed myself of 
all the facts and arguments in relation to it, which many 
others have done, whose eyes have much longer been 
open to the truth, and whose minds have been more en- 
lightened by it. 

And here permit me to say, that my conversion to im- 
mediate and universal emancipation of all who are in 
bonds without crime, was not a rash and an inconsider- 
ate matter ; for, having long been a member of a Colo- 
nization Society, my prepossessions and prejudices 
were all against immediate abolition. Yet, since the 
first recollections of my childhood, I have abhorred the 
oppressor, and sympathized with the oppressed ; but 
being taught to believe that emancipation could never 
be brought about but by a very slow and almost endless 
process of colonization, I have remained, like our whole 
country, saying or doing little or nothing on the whole 
subject ; while slavery in our land has all the while been 
increasing* with most fearful rapidity, and while the 
north too have been essentially aiding by their votes in 
adding seven vast slave-states or slave-markets to the 
original number. But since I have regarded the subject, 
as I think, in its true light, my surprise and astonishment 
at my past ignorance of it have increased in a ratio with 
my knowledge and investigations of slavery itself. And 
now, instead of wondering at the interest which some are 
manifesting in behalf of the oppressed, I only wonder 



INTRODUCTION. XXV 

that all do not feel and manifest, if possible, a hundred- 
fold more interest, and even enthusiasm, in behalf of the 
two and a half millions of our own cruelly enslaved 
countrymen in our own land, and before our own eyes, 
than we ever did for the Poles or the Greeks, for whom 
our sympathies and our treasures flowed like water. 

In the first place, the principles of the Anti-Slavery 
Society, the anniversary of which the friends of freedom 
meet this day through the State and the nation to com- 
memorate, are precisely the same as those contained in 
that immortal Declaration of American Independence, 
which, when those great first principles of all free go- 
vernment were hung out and proclaimed to the world 
by our venerable fathers, were at once the rallying point 
for all the friends of freedom in the land. Nay, more ; 
like the needle to the pole, this magic power readily at- 
tracted noble and kindred spirits from other lands than 
this, who at once rallied around this attractive standard 
of liberty for which they too with our fathers fought, and 
bled, and died. Our La Fayette will be for ever grate- 
fully remembered by every true-hearted American, as a 
most illustrious example of this. I dare not be guilty 
of the sacrilege of mutilating those ever memorable 
words, and will therefore give a principal extract of them 
entire, as we can hardly err in holding them up too fre- 
quently in this degenerate age. " We hold these truths 
to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalien- 
able rights ; among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness. That to secure these rights govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
powers from the consent of the governed. That when 

3 



XXVI INTRODUCTION. 

any form of government becomes destructive of these 
ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, 
and to institute new government ; laying its foundations 
and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall 
seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." 
This quotation contains the main principles embraced 
in that imperishable and heaven-descended chart of hu- 
man rights. 

I shall hereafter endeavour to show, by extracts from 
the slave laws and by well-founded arguments, that all 
these glorious principles which have so long been the 
boast and the just pride of all Americans, (save the poor 
coloured man,) and which in all countries have ever 
been the great fear of tyrants and the fond hope of the 
oppressed, are totally, shamelessly, and wickedly disre- 
garded in our treatment of one-sixth part of our entire 
population. I shall show that the slave laws do by no 
means regard the slave as being created equal with his 
master, possessing rights which are not to be " trans- 
ferred," or, as being at liberty to pursue his own happi- 
ness in his own way. I shall show, too, that the poor 
slave does in no manner, expressed or implied, give his 
assent to the cruel and iron laws which are made to 
govern him, but that they are all against his will, and 
directly opposed both to his temporal and eternal well- 
being. 

I have said in brief, that the principles of the Anti- 
Slavery Society are those contained in the Declaration 
of our Independence ; and the object of the Society, by 
a concentration of strictly constitutional and moral means 
only, by a public expression of their sentiments brought 
to bear upon the minds and consciences of all freemen 



INTRODUCTION. XXV11 

in our country, both slaveholders and non-slaveholders, 
is to resuscitate, cherish, and extend these principles 
universally and practically. Let these principles, which 
cover the whole ground of civil liberty, triumph ; they 
would utterly abolish slavery from the abodes of man. 

That the institution of slavery is legalized, and there- 
by attempted to be made respectable in some degree 
among men, in tho eyes of Him who says, "thou shalt 
not oppress thy fellow," can be of no avail. Who 
has legalized it? Men might as well, upon the same 
principle, legalize any other system of abominations and 
wickedness, such as brothels, &c, upon the plausible 
and wicked pretext that they were making their victims 
no worse off, because they were "so poor that they 
could not take care of themselves." I know very well, 
that if bodies of men will utterly abandon all the self- 
evident principles of right, both natural and revealed, in 
the government of their conduct, set up the base and 
fallacious doctrine of " expediency," or that " might is 
right," organize themselves into a banditti, and, in open 
defiance of God and man, make their own laws, they 
can pretend to regard them as respectable if they will. 
I suppose that even pirates upon the high seas, whose 
very trade is rapine and blood, endeavour to compli- 
ment themselves that they are the bravest and the most 
" chivalrous fellows " in the world. Indeed, boasting 
is known to be a prominent characteristic among this 
class of outlaws. The more wicked the deed, the more 
self-complacency must be assumed to soothe that never- 
ceasing corroding of conscience, whenever the known 
laws of nature or of revelation are violated. 

But are not larger and more powerful communities 



XXViil INTRODUCTION. 

of men accountable for their laws and their conduct, in 
the same sense that bands of robbers and pirates are? 
And does not God, seeing not as men see, hold entire 
nations accountable for their conduct and laws? If 
wicked and oppressive, does he not curse them? If 
righteous and just, does he not bless them? And while 
we should ever pray that the poor slave under his ( uel 
chains may be patient and wait the appointed time of 
his deliverance, and that the hard heart of his oppressor 
should speedily relent that he would voluntarily " let the 
oppressed go free," nevertheless, the sentiment of the 
poet drawn from above will forever stand, that 

" God hath judgement for the proud, 
And justice for th' oppressed." 

Says the great statesman, Jefferson, on the subject of 
American slavery, whose language has been so often 
quoted both by the divine and the politician, " I tremble 
for mu country, when 1 reflect that God is just." 

It appears to be an essential part of the government 
of Heaven over us all, to hold an entire people account- 
able for the doings of their representatives. And do 
we not all at least tacitly give our assent to the correct- 
ness of this principle in governments, when we are al- 
ways ready to attach blame to any one who gives his 
suffrages, without due diligence to know whether it will 
tend to the public good ? And if, through ignorance or 
from whatever cause, laws shall be enacted which, in 
their practical bearing or operation, shall be found un- 
just and unequally oppressive upon one portion of com- 
munity, has not that same people who made such laws 
an undoubted right to unmake or repeal them ? Nay, 
more ; cannot that oppressed portion demand it to be 



INTRODUCTION. XXIX 



done without delay, as a matter of justice and right? 
And ought not that people to be justly reproached with 
being guilty of manifest injustice and wrong, who should 
knowingly withhold this right, and thereby compel a 
portion of the community to bear an unjust and an un- 
equil part of the common burden ; for is not all partial 
legislation justly regarded as odious and tyrannical? 
Do we not admit this principle, in all its length and 
breadth, in our daily intercourse with our fellow-men 1 

We would take the high and holy ground, that all 
nations on earth not only have the right, but that they 
are under the highest possible moral obligation, when 
they find any of their laws wicked and oppressive, to 
exercise that right in repealing them, and in their stead 
to enact righteous and equal laws for all. But if we 
live under a government where State rights are so con- 
strued as to constitute the states so far independent 
sovereignties as to entirely paralize the constitutional 
power of the general government, then this so called 
republic or federal government virtually consists of 
twenty-six independent nations, and in this case the 
extreme of nullification ought to prevail. We know, 
however, that it is not so, either according to the spirit, or 
the plain letter of the constitution of these United States. 
But when the doctrine is set up and seriously defended, 
to accomplish mere party or political ends or local ob- 
jects, by forever conniving at exclusive southern policy, 
that Congress has no constitutional right to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia and in the territo- 
ries, and to regulate commerce between the States, and 
consequently to prohibit the interstate slave trade now 
constantly carried on ; consistency blushes and takes 

3* 



XXX INTRODUCTION. 

her flight : for who does not know that Congress has 
long since prohibited the foreign slave traffic? And 
who ever doubted the constitutional jurisdiction of Con- 
gress to do so ? But when the abolishment of land as 
well as water traffic is called for, "Ah," cries the slave- 
holder and his abettor, " this is unconstitutional !" When 
men set up such unfounded, unconstitutional pretensions 
for sinister ends, would not such men, under other cir- 
cumstances, if found convenient, most likely claim that 
the general government possessed supreme and unli- 
mited control over all the parts of the republic ; and 
from the same interested motives, by inverting the prin- 
ciple, consolidate the whole into one " snug monarchy ?" 
History informs us, in many instances, that there have 
been men in the world who possessed this magic power 
of thus " playing with kingdoms at their pleasure." We 
all hope better things ; but we also know that there is, 
at least, a possibility, nay more, a probability, of even 
all this coming to pass, and that, too, at no very distant 
day, unless the good people will look well to their own 
affairs, and not trust them too much to other and irre- 
sponsible hands. 

These remarks will for ever stand equally applicable 
to all men in power. Is it asked, are there no men of 
any political party or creed whatever to be entrusted 
with the high and sacred responsibilities of administer- 
ing government? must universal distrust prevail; and 
can there be no confidence reposed in man? I answer, 
that a well-informed and virtuous people are the only 
rulers to be entrusted with a free government; and 
whenever the people do repose confidence in their ser- 
vants, called rulers, it should ever be an intelligent, 



INTRODUCTION. XXxi 

enlightened confidence, not founded on party grounds, 
but on the broad patriotic principles of the highest and 
the universal good of their common country. 

Men who administer a free government by delegation 
from the people, as in the days of Washington, should, 
indeed, be so free from party spirit, so disinterested and 
patriotic, that they would at once command (as did the 
venerated father of our country,) the universal esteem 
and confidence of the whole commonwealth. 

But we must regard men of all parties, not so much 
in the moral light in which we skouklbe, as in the moral 
darkness in which we are — and ever bear in mind that 
immortal declaration, that " liberty is the price of eter- 
nal vigilance." 

To say no more, that government by whomsoever ad- 
ministered, which enacts equal and constitutional laws, 
and shall vindicate and sustain such laws most success- 
fully, as the guardians of all our rights and liberties, 
will most unquestionably deserve best of exevy enlight- 
ened and virtuous people, and share largest in their af- 
fection and confidence. 

Wherever in any country it has become no uncom- 
mon occurrence for wholesome and good laws to remain 
a dead letter upon the statute books of the land, unad- 
ministered, it has most invariably been found that the 
liberties of that people have been on the wane, for the 
very obvious reason that they had been retrograding, 
either in intelligence or virtue, or both, for, of course, 
public men in free representative governments, are in 
most instances but the legitimate, moral, and political 
offspring of the people. The world is governed too 
much, has first been the watchword of demagogues 



XXXii INTRODUCTION. 

seeking favour of the multitude ; then a loose, vicious, 
and visionary idea of a licentious and dangerous liberty 
has prevailed — then an infatuated and an entire reck- 
lessness of disposition to throw off the most common 
restraints of a well regulated civilized community — and 
finally, general anarchy and misrule — and to this suc- 
ceeding despotism has finished the dreadful climax of 
ruin. 

If we live under a government where it is neither ex- 
pedient nor safe to exercise its constitutional functions, 
then, indeed, it is a most fearful indication that we are 
already on the very eve of anarchy or revolution. But 
I am not yet prepared to believe this, for I trust it will 
yet be seen, that there is sufficient strength of virtue or 
moral power in the American people, nobly to uphold 
all the free institutions of their fathers, and to transmit 
them unimpaired to their children, with the high and 
sacred injunction, thus to hand them down to their latest 
posterity. 

When I despair of this hope I despair of the world. 

Still, we ought ever to remember that there is no in- 
herent strength in the mere abstract form of any govern- 
ment on earth, but that the strength of all human govern- 
ments lies in the intelligence and virtue of the people 
who are the administrators of the government. But, 
even intelligence alone, at the expense of justice and 
virtue, has ever proved but a calamity to man. We 
must see this from the fact, that laws which are good in 
diemselves, prove a mere nullity and lure but to ruin, 
whenever a people are too deficient in enlightened vir- 
tue, to demand an intelligent and proper administration 
of such laws for mutual safety, the establishment of 



INTRODUCTION. XXX11I 

justice, and for the general well being of commu- 
nity. 

Every government of men is intrinsically strong or 
weak, in proportion as general intelligence and virtue 
among the people increases or diminishes. 

I had supposed I knew my fellow countrymen, and 
that nothing could induce them to surrender, or to de- 
mand of others a surrender of the freedom of opinion ; 
and I believe it will yet be seen that the American peo- 
ple were taken by surprise by an extraneous and decep- 
tive influence, when they seemed to look quietly on, and 
witness the lawless outrages upon the sacred right of 
speech, and the freedom of the press, the very life- 
guards of liberty itself, and stood by and saw them al- 
most banished from the land, as though they were dan- 
gerous and obtrusive enemies, for the people soon dis- 
covered that it was their long tried and faithful friends 
whom they had thus treated — their intelligent and vir- 
tuous sympathies are now interested, and they are there- 
fore forthwith hastening to their rescue. They begin 
to see that whatever loves the abodes of darkness and 
shrinks its hideous head from investigation and free dis- 
cussion, they must forever regard as their mortal enemy, 
a kind of dark and concealed monster, ready, whenever 
an opportunity occurs, to strike the very vitals of the 
body politic with its poisonous and deadly fangs. 

Though the numerous, reckless, and lawless outrages 
committed of late upon the freedom of speech and the 
press in our beloved country, by the practical enemies 
of rational and constitutional liberty, which have been 
eagerly translated into every language of Europe, and 
construed, to our shame, that our country is in a state 



XXXIV INTRODUCTION. 

• 

of anarchy and dissolution, and exultingly claimed by 
foreign monarchists and despots as an unanswerable 
argument against the experiment of free and self govern- 
ment by the people ; still let us trust and believe that an 
enlightened, virtuous, and patriotic people, as we hitherto 
have been considered to be by the nations of the earth, 
will yet resolve in the strength of the God of our fathers, 
and of our father's freedom, to continue free, and that we 
shall yet rise in the might of our moral power, wipe away 
the reproach, and nobly redeem our national character 
from the otherwise eternal disgrace before the whole 
world. But this never will be done unless universal 
rational liberty to all in our land, whom God made free, 
be destined nobly to triumph. 

A late European writer, addressing an American, 
says, " The circumstances of the tragical and una- 
venged death of Lovejoy, will shock the moral sense of 
all Europe ;" and adds, " that the civil and religious 
liberty of the human race will essentially suffer, if such 
deeds much longer continue to be perpetrated in Ame- 
rica with impunity." 

The freedom of speech, and the liberty of the press, 
must be fully and rightly understood, and duly appreci- 
ated by every people who would be free, and long retain 
their freedom. 

The very fact, that the American constitution guaran- 
tees protection to each and to every citizen, while in the 
lawful exercise of these rights, at once pre-supposes 
that a variety of conflicting opinions and interests would 
often exist, wherein the majority from that naturat love 
of unlimited and uninterrupted power might as often be 
tempted to suppress the sentiments of the minority, if not 



INTRODUCTION. XXXV 

strongly constitutionally guarded in the most explicit 
manner. Wherein would have been the propriety of the 
constitution, so cautiously and so amply protecting, so 
far as the strongest and the most explicit language can 
do it, all the citizens of the United States, in the full 
exercise of these inalienable and fundamental rights, if 
those noble, patriotic, and long-sighted framers of the 
constitution had not wisely and sagaciously foreseen, that 
even an individual for himself, or for his country, might 
often have occasion to contend earnestly and manfully 
for a time, single-handed perchance, in vindication of his 
opinions, against a surrounding multitude of his fellow 
citizens, who might, perhaps honestly, but erroneously, 
differ with him in opinion? 

The man, then, who presumes to intimate that because 
a particular community may be opposed awhile to certain 
opinions, that that community have a right, therefore, by 
mob law, or by any other law, (which of course must be 
unconstitutional and an abridgement of the inalienable 
rights of man,) to forcibly suppress the discussion 
and the constitutional promulgation of those opinions, 
most assuredly, not only intimates that he is wiser 
than the immortal framers of the constitution, that only 
chart of American liberties, but he is also encouraging 
the prevalence of a doctrine fraught with iminent danger 
to the constitution itself, and consequently to his own 
and to his country's freedom and justly entailing upon 
himself the well merited imprecations of all posterity. 

We have recently heard, with much pain, the names 
of our venerated, fathers, in their act of throwing the 
obnoxious tea overboard, profanely coupled with the late 
Alton mobocrats that murdered Lovejoy. The com- 



XXXVI INTRODUCTION. 

parison is both false and impious ! Wendell Phillips, 
Esqr., at a late meeting in Faneuil Hall in Boston, in 
an able speech in defence of the constitutional principles 
and guaranties of the freedom of speech and the liberty 
of the press, by way of repelling the simpering, coward- 
ly, and dangerous doctrine, that it is " imprudent " for a 
freeman, an American citizen, to stand up at all times, and 
in all places, to defend his constitutional rights, when dis- 
puted — said to his vast audience: (to which he found 
a hearty response) " imagine yourselves present when 
the first news of Bunker Hill battle reached a New- 
England town. The tale" said he, " would have run thus : 
t The Patriots are routed ; the troops victorious ; War- 
ren lies dead on the field.' With what scorn," the 
speaker continued, (which elicited tremendous applause 
throughout that spacious Hall, so long consecrated to 
liberty,) " would that tory have been received, who 
should have charged Warren with imprudence ; who 
should have said, that he was out of place in that battle ; 
that he died as the " fool dieth V 9 

" How," exclaimed this eloquent speaker, " would 
the intimation have been received, that Warren and his 
associates should have waited a better time ? 

"But if success," said he, " be indeed the only crite- 
rion of principle and prudence, " recipe jinem" wait till 
the end." 

When the right itself of the freedom of speech and 
the liberty of the press shall in any manner be assailed, 
it is not only the constitutional privilege of every man, 
most resolutely and vigorously to oppose the rude and 
treasonable assault, but, it then especially becomes at 
once his highest and most indispensable duty, as a good 



INTRODUCTION. XXXVU 

citizen and a patriot, to defend this right, even to the 
imminent hazard, if necessary, of every thing else which 
he holds dear, and which this right, and this alone, can 
protect for himself, for his fireside, and for his country. 

This all-important discrimination should then be ex- 
ercised ; that is, that it is not, as some would seem to 
suppose, some of the branches, merely, of the tree of 
liberty, which are thus profanely attempted to be lopped 
off by a treasonable hand, but that the axe that moment 
is being laid at the very root of the tree itself. The most 
obscure, or the most unpopular individual in commun- 
ity, stands most in need of the lawful and constitutional 
protection of all his rights. History and biography 
have most abundantly shown us, that many new sys- 
tems and new theories, which obscure and unpopular 
persons have introduced, and for which they have been 
persecuted, imprisoned, and often put to death, have 
subsequently proved to be of immense value to the 
whole world of mankind. Did time and space permit, 
it would truly be a most delightful employment to cite 
numerous and striking examples of this kind, both for 
the rebuke and for the gratitude of man. We see here 
a reason the most obvious, why truly free governments 
give rise to far more numerous and important discove- 
ries and improvements, than absolute governments. 

Our great constitutional safeguards and precautions 
show most clearly, that those wise and ever-to-be-re- 
membered sages, from whose magnanimous minds they 
emanated, well understood what they were doing ; and, 
so far as they could do it by constitutional provisions, 
were determined to guard and perpetuate the liberties 
of the American people, so long as they should deserve 

4 



XXXviii INTRODUCTION* 

them, or, in other language, so long as they possessed 
sufficient intelligence to understand, and sufficient virtue 
to insist, to the very last, on the full enjoyment of all 
those rights, so faithfully constitutionally transmitted to 
them by their fathers. How devoutly, then, is it to be 
desired, that the whole American people should be intel- 
ligent and virtuous. Indeed, the hope is visionary, for 
any people to think of long maintaining little else than 
the mere abstract form of a free government, short of 
this. But we sometimes hear of prodigal sons, who 
have proved recreant to all the counsel and inheritance 
of the best of fathers, and have " straightway spent their 
substance in riotous living." Shall it, indeed, be so with 
us as a nation 1 

But, after all that the combined wisdom of sages can 
do, by way of constitutional provisions, there can be no 
such thing as getting along " comfortably in life," or of 
long sustaining a free government, unless in addition to 
intelligence, the people, who in all republics must be 
sovereign, will cheerfully and magnanimously exercise 
that wholesome and rational spirit of mutual forbearance, 
and will most cordially extend to their neighbours the un- 
abridged and peaceful enjoyment of these inborn or in- 
alienable rights and immunities, which we are all so 
ready to claim for ourselves. This would, indeed, be 
acting upon that great constitutional, as well as revealed 
golden rule, which is the very foundation of all other 
rules of right, in heaven or earth, and of all just gov- 
ernment among men. 

Destroy the foundation, and the whole superstructure 
at once falls to the ground. So we must see the " con- 
clusion of the whole matter " to be, that our boasted 



INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 

free institutions, will not, nay, cannot be sustained, only 
by intelligence and sound and rigid virtue, in the exer- 
cise of a healthful Catholic spirit among the great body 
of the " sovereign people." Who will contribute in this 
way to the safety and the welfare of his country, and to 
the wide extension of rational liberty and happiness 
among all the members of the one great family of man 1 

Having made these few brief remarks of what I con- 
sidered the plain, and as one would very naturally 
think, the indisputable construction of the American 
constitution, in relation to the freedom of speech, and 
the liberty of the press, you will now allow me to pass 
on to say, that it does appear to me, aside from all po- 
litical or party influence, that there can be but one opin- 
ion on the subject of Congress possessing undoubted 
power, as the plain letter and spirit of the constitution 
now are, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, 
and in all the territories of the United States, and also 
of prohibiting the inter-state slave traffick, under the con- 
stitutional provision, that it should be the duty and the 
business of the American Congress, to regulate all com- 
mercial transactions between the States. Slaves are 
well known to be claimed, and in all respects consider- 
ed and treated, by those who tyrannically assume to own 
them, as articles of commerce merely. 

This, of itself, admitting no new slave-markets, would 
soon do away the great curse of slavery in our whole 
nation : and the slaveholders know it, which accounts 
for their extreme sensitiveness whenever this subject is 
touched ; and for their determined effort to prevent, if 
possible, even the very first approaches to a fair consti- 
tutional investigation of the matter. 



xl INTRODUCTION. 

This, however, only excites the jealousy, and the 
still further inquiry of every rational, intelligent, and in- 
dependent freeman. The slaveholder well knows that 
the abolitionist has planted his foot upon the constitu- 
tional and moral power of the nation, and he alternately 
frowns and trembles. You touch the District of Colum- 
bia, and you at once touch the common idol of all Ameri- 
can slaveholders. They talk about its being an " enter- 
ing wedge ;" but if constitutional, what have entering 
wedgess to do with the subject 1 Indeed,~none of the 
numerous constitutional cords which bind us together as 
a people, should, for a moment, be suffered to be severed 
or relaxed, by the ever treacherous hand of "expediency." 
But some of our time-serving politicians are all for the 
constitution, whon it suits their purposes, and when not, 
they are all for " expediency." Abolitionists consider 
it both their moral and constitutional privilege, and their 
bounden duty, to say to slaveholders, and to the world, 
in plain democratic as well as Christian language, (that 
is, by calling things by their right names,) that they con- 
sider slaveholding a heinous sin — a great moral and 
political outrage upon the inalienable rights of man, and 
our great reproach as a people, before heaven, and before 
the nations of the earth ; which ought at once to be re- 
pented of, and put away from us forever. But while 
they do this, they are also among the first and the most 
uncompromising advocates for the maintenance of the 
constitution, and the laws of the land ; and ask nothing 
of Congress but the most clearly constitutional action, 
on the subject of slavery. But they do fearlessly de- 
mand of Congress, as did Franklin, Jay, and all their 
noble associates, to step out to the " utmost verge of the 



INTRODUCTION. xli 

constitution," on this great and sacred subject of human 
liberty, and the only salvation of our country. 

To hold the slaves as servants simply, in their respec- 
tive slave-states, the slaveholders regard, comparatively, 
an unimportant object. 

But to rear human bodies and souls to drive to the far 
South, and southwestern markets, Alabama, Missouri, 
Arkansas, (Texas in covert prospect,) &c, is what they 
are most unwilling to relinquish. If they did not think 
this "entering ivedge" would soon enter into this nefari- 
ous busmess, they would not be so alarmed at its steady 
but sure approach. 

This vast and horrible feature of American slavery, the 
nation (to its shame be it spoken,) has hitherto not merely 
basely tolerated, but greatly encouraged it also by the addi- 
tion of seven slave states, while the foreign traffic it has 
long since very justly stamped as piracy. To what does all 
this amount, but holding out to the whole world the broad 
black mark of our deep national hypocrisy ? Who does not 
know, also, that the enhancement of the value of domestic 
slaves, had much to do in this hypocritical prohibition of 
foreign slaves? The conspicuous part which some 
leading American domestic slave traffickers took in the 
matter, shows but too clearly whence it originated. 
The world has allowed us no national philanthropy in all 
this, because our subsequent national acts, in constantly 
annexing new slave states, and all the while selling our 
fellow-countrymen like beasts of burden, by tens, nay, by 
hundreds of thousands, have been so glaringly absurd 
and contradictory. Southern politicians and ambitious 
demagogues, are still more unwilling than slave- 
** growers" and slave-traffickers are, to relinquish the 

4* 



Xlii INTRODUCTION, 

"institution" of slavery, from the fact, that they make it 
a vast and unequal engine of political power over the 
free states, which I will hereafter show by an exhibition 
of the comparative scales of representation, as exhibited 
in a late able address of Myron Holley, Esq. 

As we sometimes find it from a great variety of the 
same article, at once to make our selection, so it is with 
this most prolific subject. From its vastness, and from 
its various and tremendous bearings upon the positive 
and relative interests of all concerned, it is truly difficult 
to condense into a small compass, in a short space of 
time, sufficient matter to do any thing like justice to the 
numerous topics and considerations connected with the 
all-absorbing subjectsof American Slavery and American 
Liberty. I shall therefore endeavour, as well as I can, 
in the limited space which I have allowed myself, princi- 
pally to reply very briefly, to some of the most popular 
and prevailing objections to the free discussion of slavery, 
and to immediate and unconditional emancipation, with- 
out expatriation of all who are innocently in a cruel and 
wicked bondage ; and also to attempt to illustrate the 
constitutional principles of the right of speech, petition, 
and the liberty of the press. In the remarks which I 
may make, I shall consider myself warranted in contem- 
plating every opposer to the most free and unreserved 
discussion, in all places, of the whole subject of slavery, 
as being entirely identified with the most direct opposer 
of the anti-slavery cause itself; and either designedly or 
virtually, throwing his influence in favour of the perpetu- 
ation of slavery ; for, how much soever some may tell 
us they are great advocates for free discussion, I have 
found, after all, that some of these great advocates for 



INTRODUCTION. xliti 

free inquiry and investigation, make a kind of mental 
reservation in this matter, and really mean those sub- 
jects only which may happen to coincide with their own 
peculiar notions, interests, or convenience ; and that, if 
they do not at once manifest symptoms of applying the 
gag-law by brute force, they will at least look askance 
at every man who attempts the discussion of any other 
subject, or in any other manner than that which these 
" privileged gentlemen" shall condescend to dictate to 
independent American citizens. It is yet hopeful, that 
the people in their might and " sovereign capacity," will 
signally rebuke such petty tyrants in disguise. 



SECTION I. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY AT THE 
NORTH, BECAUSE WE ARE MEDDLING WITH THAT 
WHICH IS 4 NONE OF OUR BUSINESS,' FOR IT IS UN- 
CONSTITUTIONAL." 

This objector meets the friends of the oppressed, and 
the friends of the constitution and the laws, on the very 
threshhold, and most rudely accosts them, " enter not 
into this temple of slavery, for it is holy and forbidden 
ground," a " patriarchal or domestic institution," long 
sanctioned by the usages of mankind, and confirmed by 
the constitution of the government of the country. 
The man who takes this position, virtually enters his 
veto upon all anti-slavery proceedings of every kind, 
Colonization as well as abolition, for surely, if I have a 
right to discuss slavery in one way, I have an equal 
right to discuss it in another. Mr. Preston, though a 
slaveholding senator, faithfully and solemnly warned 
Mr. Calhoun of the inextricable and endless difficulty 
into which he (Mr. Calhoun,) was involving the entire 
slaveholding interest, by his introducing and inviting dis- 
cussion upon one side, to effect the passage of tyrannical 
resolutions. 

Mr. Preston not being quite so "fanatical and de- 
nunciatory" as Mr. Calhoun, saw the result more 
clearly. But in spite of all the advice of cooler heads, 
with the same kind of tyrannical, headstrong reckless- 



46 LIBER TY AND SLAVERY 

ness, as in his nullification mania, when it required 
President Jackson, with all his firmness and executive 
power to "veto" him; he has occupied much time in 
eulogizing slavery as the " best basis of freedom" before 
the nation and the world, much to our shame as a people, 
claiming to have presented to the world a perfect model 
of a free government. On this subject, (slavery,) he was 
the great man of the Senate, of 1838, and was per- 
mitted to go his own length, and he finally made out 
one of the most abominable, tyrannical, and grinding 
systems of oppression and bondage, that ever cursed the 
earth, to be the very basis of all free institutions, and 
the only system that can maintain our government by 
bringing capital, as he says, in effect, to bear hard upon 
the necks of the labouring class of the whole country, to 
teach them to know " their places " — keep on at work 
— observe profound silence, and look up to slaveholders 
and tyrants for instruction and favour ; when these task- 
masters of the labouring class see fit, in their most 
gracious condescension, to listen to their humble prayers, 
or to notioo thfiir respectful petitions. I will here quote 
a few of this gentleman's own sentiments, in his own 
language, which indeed are now rapidly being adopted 
as the political creed of slaveholders at the South, and 
their aristocratic abettors at the North, whether politi- 
cal, ecclesiastical, or othprwisfi, under the wonderfully 
patriotic, but subtle and dangerous pretext of " preserv- 
ing the Union." First, says Mr. Calhoun, this would- 
be monarch of nullification memory, "I regard slavery 
as the most safe and stable basis of free institutions in the 
world." Second, " It is impossible, with us (at the 
South,) that the conflict can take place between labour 



ILLUSTRATED. 47 

and capital, which makes it so difficult to establish and 
maintain free institutions in all wealthy and highly civil- 
ized nations, whers such institutions as ours, (slavery) 
do not exist ;" that is to say, as I clearly understand the 
gentleman, to hint, that it is so very difficult to maintain 
free governments, short of the capitalists reducing the 
entire labouring class of the country to absolute slavery, 
it is of no earthly use to try the experiment any longer, 
but abandon this puerile mode of self-government by the 
people, and do the whole business up at once, in the 
true autocratic style, that tyrants, at least, may then 
have freedom enough. Again, says this slaveholding 
monarch, on his fancied iron throne, while passing his 
enraptured encomiums upon southern institutions, (slave 
labour) as being far superior to northern ones, (free- 
labour) " hence the harmony, the union, and stability 
of that section, (the South) which is rarely disturbed, 
except through the action of this government." Who 
supposes, Mr. Calhoun, that the poor serfs of Russia, 
loaded down with their heavy chains, would very often 
disturb the government of the great Czar, with the 
capital, the persons, and the lives of his vassal subjects in 
his own hands? This is precisely the doctrine held 
forth by the Senate of the United States in 1838, with 
Mr. Calhoun at its head, for American citizens to em- 
brace. But it would be the embrace of death to all their 
liberties. Our fathers felt that resistance to tyrants was 
obedience to God. 

Could there be a true son of one of the fathers of '76, 
whose cheek does not crimson with shame, when he hears 
of such sentiments being so soon boldly advanced in the 
senate chamber of this nation ; we should almost think 



48 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

that dishonoured sire, would rise from his tomb to rebuke, 
or disown his degenerate and recreant offspring ! 

Again, here is another sentiment from the same 
quarter, and of a like character with the others ; and if 
there can be a free labouring man in this whole Union, 
who is yet allowed to read, to think, and to speak, who 
does not sensibly feel what it means, it may next be in- 
delibly imprinted into his understanding or his children's, 
by the slaveholder's manacles and chains, and by the 
taskmaster's bloody lash ! " It (slavery,) makes that 
section, (the South,) the balance of the system, (our 
government) the great conservative power which pre- 
vents other portions, (the free-labour states,) less fortu- 
nately constituted, from running inter conflict. In this 
tendency to conflict in the North, between labour and 
capital, (says this same slaveholding republican,) which 
is constantly on the increase, the weight of the South 
has, and will ever be found, on the conservative side. 
This, says Mr. Calhoun, " is our true national position." 
Very true, most noble senator ; there are quite a number 
of sound-headed, hard-labouring Yankees of inflexible 
principles, who have for sometime past, seen and 
deeply deplored " our true national position," as having 
already enslaved and ground down to the earth, the 
labouring population of one portion of our Union, and 
now making most rapid strides upon the other. This 
same man and his associates, through senatorial resolu- 
tions and speeches have very artfully invited all the 
aristocratic influence of all parties, in church and in 
state, at the North, the East, and the West, to join with 
the united slaveholding influence of the South, to trans- 
form the more " unfortunate, restless, and troublesome " 
free-labour institutions of the free states, into the more 



ILLUSTRATED* 49 

fortunate, quiet, and less troublesome slave-labour insti- 
tutions at the South. 

The brief English of it all is, that the slaveholding 
politicians of the entire South have said (through Cal- 
houn's and Patton's resolutions and their late senatorial 
argument) to all the northern aristocrats who will prove 
recreant to all northern interests and their boasted 
JefFersonian democratic principles of equal rights, and 
help us enslave northern freemen, before northern free- 
men free our more ^fortunate and quiet slaves," we 
southern slaveholders, and you northern aristocrats, will 
then share all the black and white " bleached or unbleach- 
ed" spoils of the vanquished between us in common 
stock, and revel in our affluence of unrequited toil to our 
heart's content, " until our eyes stand out with fatness." 
The late alarming congressional vote and arguments 
on this subject most clearly show that we have indeed 
aristocrats at the north with their eyes wide open, who 
from unhallowed interest and prejudice, and from that 
same slaveholding spirit and boundless ambition of 
holding unconditional dominion over the entire labouring 
population of the whole country, are already prepared 
deliberately to enter into this proposed subtle conspiracy 
against the liberties of the people, and forthwith to chris- 
ten the conspiracy by the name " enlarged patriotism" 
or " great love of Union." But if I have not hitherto 
much mistaken the character of the great body of the 
American people, and especially of the more sound in 
principle and hardy labouring class; if this most insulting 
doctrine can only be got fairly before them in due time, 
they will " blow it " farther than ever a slaveholder 
threatened of " blowing the Union," if a freemen dared 

5 



60 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

to say a word against slavery. The independent yeo« 
manry of a free country are too much accustomed to hard 
voluntary service, to be frightened out of their rights 
when they clearly understand them. Their general 
motto is " to ask for nothing but what is right, and 
submit to nothing wrong." But like all others, they are 
sometimes liable by various forestalling and controlling 
influences to misunderstand their own most sacred rights. 
In addition to all this, and much more that might be 
cited from the same source, we have of late had abun- 
dance of irresistible official testimony from the highest 
functionaries of the slaveholding states and from all the 
leading slaveholding politicians, regardless of party, 
(other than a slavery party deceptively called a Union 
party) that however high and " chivalrous " southern 
professions may be, that their sentiments as well as their 
practices are any thing but republican, and also that the 
proximity of such sentiments have been contaminating 
to free principles ; while slaveholding politicians by the 
aid of some recreant northern ones have already wrested 
from nothern citizens of this Union their sacred guaran 
tied right of petition, and are still demanding in clamor- 
ous tones that they surrender up to slaveholding power 
their right of speech, and their right to travel peaceably 
at the south, if known to hold sentiments unfavourable to 
slavery ; — these same slaveholding politicians are con- 
stantly discussing and portraying to the utmost of their 
abilities, the beauties and advantages of the slave govern- 
ment for all the " labouring class " over all other govern- 
ments in the world. It renders this kind of government, 
they say, so " safe, so quiet, so peaceable," and so free. 
When slaveholders speak of slavery being the best basis 



ILLUSTRATED. 51 

of freedom, they unquestionably must mean, that the 
few have an unlimited and an uninterrupted freedom to 
do just as they please over the many. A very few out 
of the volumes of these slaveholding sentiments I will 
here cite from authentic documents. 

" Governor Swain of North Carolina says, " the cha- 
racter of slavery is not to be discussed." He further 
says, " we have an indubitable right to demand the free 
states to suppress such discussions totallyand promptly." 

Governor Lynch (a significant name) of Mississippi, 
holds the same despotic sentiments with Governor Swain; 
and adds, that " necessity will sometimes prompt a sum- 
mary mode of trial and punishment unknown to the law." 

Governor Lumpkin of Georgia in his message to the 
Legislature denies the right to discuss the question of 
slavery. He says, " the weapons of reason and argu- 
ment are insufficient to put down the discussion ; we can 
therefore hear no argument upon the subject, (slavery) 
for our opinions are unalterably fixed." 

Governor Tazewell of Virginia holds the same des- 
potic language, and adds, " we have a perfect right to 
require all the free states to adopt prompt and efficient 
means to suppress all associations for the discussion of 
the subject (slavery.) 

Duff Green, a leading pro-slavery editor, says, that 
" slavery must not be discussed ;" and adds, " it will not 
bear discussion." An honest admission ! ! ! But still 
the " domestic institution " is profanely hallowed as the 
best in the world. Put this and that together, they make 
the amount of the slaveholder's logic. 

Governor Mc Duffle of South Carolina, in his mes- 
sage to the Legislature, denies the right of discussing 



52 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

the question of slavery in the genuine chivalrous lynch- 
ing, slaveholding, despotic spirit, when he says, " I 
would have those who oppose slavery, if caught within 
our Jurisdiction, "put to death without benefit of cler- 
gy ;" and calls upon the north to promptly and effectually 
suppress all discussion on the subject. This is the 
" gentleman " who predicted the total enslavement of 
northern freemen in 25 years." — He put the time too 
long, unless the north awake out of sleep. 

Mr. Pinkney, iu his speech in Congress in 1S36, when 
speaking of northern people who felt disposed to discuss 
the question of slavery, says, "put them down by legisla- 
tion." 

Mr. Calhoun, in his despotic mail report, submitted to 
the Senate of the United States in 1836, expresses the 
sanguine hope that the free states " will be prompt to 
suppress the discussion of slavery." 

In his famous slaveholding resolutions, in the Senate 
in 1S3S, he exhibited the same anti-liberty spirit, and 
makes the same arrogant and unconstitutional demand 
of the free states. 

Here again we have the slaveholder's kind of repub- 
licanism unmasked by Mr. Leigh, in a speech in the 
Virginia convention of 1829. There must be (says this 
great republican slaveholder) some peasantry, and as 
the country fills up, there must be more — that is, men 
who tend the herds, and dig the soil, who have neither 
real nor personal capital of their own, and who earn 
their daily bread from the sweat of their brows. I ask 
gentlemen to say, (continues this chivalrous republi- 
can) whether they believe that those who depend on 
their daily labour for subsistence, can or do, ever en- 
ter into political affairs ? They never do, he continues, 



ILLUSTRATED. 53 

never will, never can." Ye hardy and intelligent sons 
of northern freemen, can ye brook such an insult? 

Professor Dew of William and Mary college in Vir- 
ginia, shows how the spirit of slavery in his heart has 
taught him to despise the manual labourer, and the poor 
man. 

He says, " political power at the south (where pos- 
session of property is one of the qualifications of voting) 
is thus taken from the hands of those who might abuse it, 
and placed in the hands of those who are most interes- 
ted in its judicious exercise. How can he get wisdom (in- 
quires this learned slaveholding professor) that holdeth 
the plough, that glorieth in the goad, that driveth oxen, and 
is occupied in labours, and whose talk is of bullocks ? 
This same slaveholding professor continues — "the 
day will come when the whole confederacy will regard 
it (slavery) as the sheet anchor of our liberties." He 
also, said " that expediency, morality, and religion, alike 
demand the continuance of slavery." We are proud to 
say to this ostentatiously literary slaveholder, that we 
have thousands of freemen in the free states, who, like 
Washington and a host of others, delight to labour with 
their own hands, whose knowledge of their country and 
their government would not suffer by comparison with 
his whose talk is of verbs and adverbs, of hie, hrec, hoc, 
&c. and of selling and goading men like bullocks. 

We have another fine specimen of slaveholding re- 
publicanism from a late speech of Mr. Pickens of South 
Carolina. Says this slaveholding " gentleman," (who 
buy3 and sells men like cattle,) " I lay down this pro- 
position as universally true, that there is not, nor never 
was, a society organized under one political system for 

5* 



54 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

a period long enough to constitute an era, where one 
class would not practically and substantially own another 
class." For this very reason all freemen must resist 
the odious and tyrannical doctrine, as for their lives, if 
they mean long to be freemen indeed." 

Says this " gentleman," (whose very trade is to press 
men doivn,) " society has not yet been pressed down into 
its classifications. All society settles down into a classi- 
fication of capitalists and labourers ; the former will own 
the latter" says this southern man-buying, man-owning, 
man selling, and man-chaining "gentleman." Free- 
men, look at the true slaveholding doctrine in all its 
abhorrent, odious, and naked deformity ! ! 

Rev. William S. Plumer, a slaveholding divine of 
Virginia, with his right-hand man, Rev. R. J. Brecken- 
ridge, (who says he is a " gentleman " and a " Kenluck- 
ian") is now sanctimoniously engaged in carrying on a 
pro slavery purifying process in the Presbyterian church, 
to cleanse her from all anti-slavery pollution, to present 
her with white robes without spot or blemish. The 
same distinguished southern professed minister of the 
gospel, with reputed eminent slaveholding piety, said, 
doubtless with a true chivalrous spirit) " let them (the 
abolitionists) understand that they will be caught if they 
come among us." I envy not the northern man his 
feelings or his present or future honour who can smile, 
or be secretly gratified at the existence of such doctrine 
in any part of our land, and more especially at its 
haughty demand, and constant aggressions upon north- 
ern liberties, upon the captivating but most delusive and 
dangerous pretext of preserving the Union. 

Should the northern people tamely submit to this gen- 
uine autocratic doctrine, it might indeed " preserve the 



ILLUSTRATED. 55 

Union " in as strong chains, and in the same sense, that 
the poor slaves are now 'preserved. But the same act 
that should thus " preserve the Union " would also sign 
the death-warrant of our own and our children's liber- 
ties, as well as to make a dreadful end to the liberties of 
the whole nation, except the very few, who would indeed 
enjoy their liberty as they could wish, in revelling in the 
full fruition of the unrequited toils of the great mass of 
the vanquished in degraded submission at the footstool 
of despotic power. 

The man who says slaveholders, aristocrats, coloni- 
zationists, and all who are hostile to free principles, 
may, to any extent, in Congress and out of Congress, 
commend and eulogize slavery, but that the true and 
genuine friends of constitutional freedom must " hands 
off," is only saying, Stand by, publican, for I am holier 
than thou ! This noble and liberal-minded objector to 
anti-slavery discussions, to be at all consistent with him- 
self, should at once serve an injunction upon all agita- 
tors of the subject (according to Patton's resolution) in 
any form or manner, under any circumstances what- 
ever, and make it an offence against the state, worthy 
of pains, and penalties, and death ! ! Still he is loud in 
telling you he is greatly in favour of free discussion. 
Who would thank one to solicit him freely to discuss a 
given subject, and then attempt to tie his hands by such 
ridiculous, not to say tyrannical, resolutions as Cal- 
houn's late famous senatorial ones for slaveholders and 
their abettors, in their attempt to call to their aid the 
constitution of the United States to take from the people 
the right of speech, petition, and liberty of the press, 
upon the wonderful pretext that slavery and the Union 
could be sustained in no other way ! ! From the amount 
of time which this great organ of slaveholders and their 



56 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

northern abettors has consumed in the late Senate, upon 
eulogizing slave government and stigmatizing free go- 
vernment, it would really seem that he regards himself 
as a greatly privileged being, that he alone has the only 
right to propose all questions and then to discuss them, 
or rather to eulogize his own favourite schemes in his 
own despotic and capricious way. The gentleman re- 
minds one of the long-billed stork, so very politely in- 
viting her neighbour fox to dine with her, and to help 
himself most freely to whatever he liked best out of her 
long-necked bottle. This trick has ever been charac- 
teristic of tyrants in the world. 

To the shame of human nature, there are also some 
such specious advocates for free discussion as Mr. 
Lumpkin of Georgia, a slaveholder, who recently said 
in the Senate of the United States, in the very midst of 
his tyrannical effort to pass gag-law resolutions for the 
people, that " he did not desire to stifle the voice of the 
people. He was willing that they should be heard ! ! 
But the states that had these institutions (man-holding 
and man-selling) would provide for their own protec- 
tion, and those who spoke against them would do well 
to keep out of their bounds, or theij would punish them." 
Keep dark, ye " dough faces" or never venture to be 
seen in the southern portion of your own country. 
Now, citizens of our common country, who tamely re- 
ceive such doctrine as this from any part of this whole 
land, purchased by the common toils and the best blood 
of their fathers, and over which the broad and sacred 
shield of the American constitution is thrown, I cannot 
but look upon as American citizens ignobly submitting 
themselves to voluntary degradation, very far beneath 
their constitutional rights, dignity, or safety. 



ILLUSTRATED. 57 

The southern people travel at the north, and speak 
of northern institutions in just such terms, and express 
just such opinions, favourable or unfavourable, concern- 
ing them, as they choose to do, and no one attempts, 
neither should they attempt, to abridge their liberty of 
speech, or suppress their freedom of opinion, for they 
are American citizens, still under the gratefully waving 
banner of the American constitution. It is true that, 
in the course of this free constitutional intercourse of 
southern people at the north, numerous instances might 
be cited wherein they have disseminated principles alto- 
gether prejudicial to, and often in utter contempt of, 
free labour institutions ; but we have not, neither should 
we have, any idea of lynching, whipping, or imprison- 
ing them for the mere exercise of this safe and salutary 
constitutional right. We only ask the same equal right 
to be constitutionally reciprocated. And short of this 
our government cannot long stand a free government. 
Indeed, where this mutual and constitutional toleration 
and protection are not cordially extended, it is no longer 
a free government. It is free but in one portion of the 
country over which the government extends, but abso- 
lute and despotic in the other. 

I have yet to learn that southern institutions are any 
more " delicate," or any dearer to southern people, than 
northern institutions are to northern people ; or that the 
southern portion of our common country has guarantied 
to it, by the American constitution, any exclusive privi- 
leges of the freedom of speech, right of petition, or 
liberty of the press, — all its outrages upon, or viola- 
tions of, our sacred constitution to the contrary notwith- 
standing. 



58 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

It is amusing to hear southern politicians sometimes 
proclaim, that if northern citizens do not desist from 
their investigations of the great principles of civil liber- 
ty, they, in return, will preach up what they call insur- 
rection to northern free labourers ; little knowing that 
the glory and the boast of the north is, that its free 
labour strength is the very " back bone " of the whole 
country. This is, as would be, for the mere extremities 
of the mammoth to preach the doctrine of revolt to the 
body. This mode of attack, however, I believe, is now 
nearly abandoned as a hopeless one, and the " modus 
operandi " entirely reversed. 

The favourite scheme for slaveholding politicians 
now is, to devise ways and means for the monied, poli- 
tical, and ecclesiastical aristocracies of the north to 
blind, entrap, ensnare, and finally enslave, the entire 
labouring population of the now called free states. 
Northern aristocrats, from the stripling to the sage in 
years, have entered this southern high school, and are 
taking lessons in the great principles of despotism, and 
making fine progress. In this school, whose professors 
must all be either political or ecclesiastical slaveholders, 
the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes, while they 
learn how to speak of " niggers" and "amalgamation," 
must also learn to portray the beauties and advantages 
of the Union in terms so captivating, and in colours so 
glowing, if possible, that the labourer of giant strength 
will even submit to be shorn of his locks and become a 
child, and even a slave in chains, for the sake of gazing 
at a fabric so splendid. Grave and reverend seniors, 
both political and ecclesiastical, have degrees conferred 
upon them in this southern school of political despot- 



ILLUSTRATED. 59 

ism, whenever, in addition to understanding the lessons 
of their juniors, they can either maintain a dignified si- 
lence, or, the one talk of the quietude of southern insti- 
tutions, and of" slavery being the best basis of freedom ," 
and the other knows how to intimate the value of the 
" patriarchal institution," and can stamp all who shall 
dare venture an opinion of his own, independent of ec- 
clesiastical dictation, as an ultra fanatic, heterodox, and 
"worse than an infidel." 

But, to return to the question, that the free states 
have no constitutional or moral right to discuss the 
subject of slavery. This objection, though a very bold 
one, is only in perfect keeping, and probably originated 
from the same interested and sinister motives of all 
other objections to the right of speech and petition, 
freedom of discussion, and liberty of the press. The 
people are beginning to see, however, from what quarter 
it comes, even from the dark regions of slavery, tyranny, 
and blood. And the people well know, too, that tyrants 
the world over have ever been hostile, for the most ob- 
vious reasons, to an honest, independent, and unre- 
strained expression of opinion among the people with 
regard to all their undoubted and inalienable equal 
rights. 

Whatever may be the motives of such objectors, to 
say the least, their doctrine is that of ignorance, tyran- 
ny, and darkness forever, which had its origin among 
crowned heads and earthly thrones, the introduction and 
the very existence of which always depend on the igno- 
rance and vassalage of the many, and the knowledge and 
the exaltation of the few. Here are the very seeds of 
all aristocracy and despotism in the world. And what- 



60 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ever may be said about a "prudent reserve" to maintain 
the Union, it is the very syren song, which, if listened 
to, would enchant and bewilder us, and finally lead us 
to ruin ! Whoever unresistingly submits himself to be 
controlled by this creed of lawless tyrants and despots 
is no longer a freeman, but has already himself, in truth, 
come under the iron yoke of slavery and despotism. 

The people have often been most speciously decoyed 
by flattering pretensions by artful and designing men ! 

Rome was thus brought under this yoke of bondage 
fifty years before she was aware of it, until a tyrant 
controlled her destinies. This, too, was artfully done, 
by holding out to the people that their true interest was 
to sacrifice every thing for the extension of empire. 

The doctrines of ignorance, of darkness, of muzzling 
the press, and of grasping at unjust power and dominion, 
will forever stand as much opposed to freedom, as the 
very prince of darkness to an angel of light. Not the 
business of any, and of each and of all the citizens, 
under a free government of their own, most freely to 
discuss and intimately to understand all subjects, moral, 
political, or scientific, which have, or may have, an in- 
fluence upon the interests of the subjects of such go- 
vernment ! ! The very idea is monstrous, and should at 
once be scouted by every freeman ; for it is a most pal- 
pable contradiction in terms, and carries its refutation 
on the very face of it. 

But the opposite doctrine of free discussion, when we 
consider that, in all republics, all power and freedom 
must of necessity, and of right ought, forever to ema- 
nate from the people — like the noble and glorious prin- 
ciples, in the declaration of our independence — would 



ILLUSTRATED. 61 

at once seem to be "self-evident." Indeed, it would 
almost appear to be descending from the proper dignity 
of freemen to debate a question which, in itself, appears 
as simple as whether two and two make four. 

But all freemen ought always to remember, that they 
must be the willing and the unconquerable advocates 
for free discussion, even in matters which, to themselves, 
appear plain, ever regarding the right to discuss, and the 
unrestrained exercise of that right, as the very pillars of 
the temple of freedom, and the last hope of expiring 
liberty. 

When the heaven-born right to discuss is profanely 
and tyrannically invaded, to allow the comparison here, 
we should all act like blind Bartemias, who, when the 
Saviour was passing by, called to him, probably in 
rather an under tone at first ; but we are told, when the 
multitude cried " hush ! hush !" Bartemias cried so 
much the louder. Who denies that he acted nobly 
upon his inalienable or personal rights of the first prin- 
ciples of all moral or civil liberty? And is it not to be 
presumed the Saviour honoured him accordingly, by 
j making him "free indeed?" So we find that the adage 
applies, both morally and politically, that "fortune fa- 
vours the brave." The man who will not cry the 
louder, or " so much the more," when the very centre 
right of all his rights is invaded, never ought to expect 
to be free ; for he thus voluntarily surrenders his free- 
dom into the hands of his master, and at once becomes 
a willing slave. 

Might it not naturally be expected, that all who be- 
lieve that this blind Bartemias gained his freedom by 
crying " so much the more" when the multitude noisily 

6 






62 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 



opposed his right to cry at all, would learn a very valu- 
able political as well as a useful moral lesson from it, 
and in similar circumstances "go and do likewise?" 
Indeed, from this there is no alternative. 

The contest for the right of speech is the battle-field 
for all freedom. Retreat from this field, we are then 
pursued even unto death ; or made prisoners for life. 

And now let us inquire a moment into the relation 
which the north sustains, both morally and politically, 
to southern slavery, to enable us to make up our minds 
whether, indeed, we have any interest whatever, in the 
subject ; and if so, whether the interest be of that cha- 
racter which gives us any moral or political right to 
discuss it. For example ; I inquired, not long since, 
of a respectable clergyman, who refused to sign a me- 
morial to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
church on the subject of slavery in that church, what 
he would do, if at some future period, the slaves, having 
increased to some five or ten millions, and being goaded 
on by a sense of their past wrongs, should break out 
(as he admitted they probably would) into a general and 
dreadful insurrection, and he should be called upon by 
the executive of the nation to enter upon the battle-field 
as chaplain, to "pray for the success" of the arms of 
their masters and former oppressors? He promptly 
replied, that he would not go. Then said I to him, " If 
you would act upon the old adage, that ' an ounce of 
prevention is better than a pound of cure J for your own 
sake, as well as that of the poor slaves and their mas- 
ters too, and your country's honour and welfare, had 
you not better timely set about using all your constitu- 
tional political power, as well as your peaceful and 



ILLUSTRATED. 63 

rational moral influence, to prevent, if may be, even the 
possibility of a calamity so direful ; lest, should you 
ever be thus called upon, and refuse to go, you should 
find yourself an outlaw, and be compelled to suffer the 
consequence V 

And do not all of us, in the free states, sustain this 
same unhappy, as well as guilty relation to southern 
slavery 1 

Nay ! says one, you have used one word too many ; 
say not, guilty. But we will inquire into this, a mo- 
ment, and see how it looks. In case of an insurrection 
among the slaves at the South, every man at the North 
would at all times be liable to be called upon by the 
government of this nation, to aid in suppressing it ; anti- 
abolitionists and all, would be promptly and impera- 
tively called upon, not only for their money, but to leave 
their wives, their children, and their own otherwise 
peaceful and happy firesides, to take up their arms, and 
other dread implements of sanguinary warfare, and to 
march in "marshal array" to the Southern tented 
fields, and there to lavish their treasures and their 
blood, to defend the masters from the poor slaves, who 
would be contending for their lives, for their liberties, 
and for the privilege of owning their own bodies, their 
own wives, and their own children, with all the other 
rights dear to man. 

How dreadful would be such a conflict ! ! And what 
Northern arm, nay, Southern too, would not palsy in 
the attempt? — for in the solemn and warning language 
of that patriot and statesman, Jefferson, " the Almighty 
has no attribute which could take part with the whites in 
such a contest ;" for is not " wrath heaping up against 



64 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

the day of wrath" and are we wise to "put far away the 
evil day ?" 

"This is our true national position." And indeed, if 
ever so dreadful and so dreaded a calamity should fall 
upon the southern portion of our common country, the 
main dependence of defence of the slaveholders from 
their slaves, would necessarily devolve on Northern 
freemen. 

I will cite one or two instances, illustrative of such an 
event, and in confirmation of this opinion. The hu- 
miliating circumstance will probably never be forgotten 
by us, as a nation, that during the war with Great Bri- 
tain, of 1812, the enemy invaded Washington, burnt the 
Capitol, sacked the public archives, and that President 
Madison was compelled to flee for his life. The public 
journals of those times, attribute the cause of this ex- 
traordinary event to the fact, that the white inhabitants 
in the District of Columbia, in the immediate vicinity of 
the Capitol, were too exclusively and anxiously occu- 
pied in watching and guarding their slaves from a mo- 
mentarily expected revolt, to lend any aid to their country 
in such a crisis, in repelling the invaders. 

It is also said, from good authority, that during the 
Southampton insurrection, fifty negroes rode in triumph 
through that county, and all the whites, except such as 
dared to watch their own slaves, fled in consternation 
before them, and that the United States troops finally 
quelled the insurrection. Who that desires the safety 
and prosperity of the South, as well as his whole coun- 
try, will not do all that he- can constitutionally and 
peacefully, to abolish Slavery in his beloved land, ere 
the just judgements of Heaven fall upon it, to its final 



ILLUSTRATED. 65 

destruction ? Should the government of this country 
ever regard the immediate emancipation of all property 
in human flesh and blood, in the land, called for the safe- 
ty of the nation, it would then know no constitutional 
bounds over it and a universal jubilee would be proclaimed. 

Would it be right for fathers, through indolence and 
dissipation, to accumulate a vast debt for their children 
to pay 1 If not, let us, while yet on the stage of life, do 
what we can, not to increase, but to diminish this pon- 
derous and overhanging weight, which, if not upon our 
own, must fall with crushing power upon the heads of 
our children. 

Surely, have people at the north no right to discuss, 
and no interest in discussing American Slavery] This 
view of the subject is truly terrific: yet there is a still 
higher, and more solemn and responsible view of it, up- 
on which we ought to act, and which ought to move our 
hearts to a deep and an abiding sympathy. It is, that 
two millions and a half of our own countrymen, are this 
moment suffering under a cruel bondage, darker than 
Egyptian night, sunk down by us, into deep physical, 
moral, social, and political degradation and ruin, and 
constantly passing on to the judgement, in this state to 
meet us, their oppressors, there, with all our guilt and 
their blood upon us. 

Who, that believes in the righteous retributions of 
that day, can stand under this view of it, unmoved? 

We can, and often do, as a people, intermingle our 
sympathies with others, and express our deep abhorrence 
to all kinds of oppression, but American oppression!! 

It is presumed, that even Mr. Calhoun, who says we 
have no business to intermeddle in any manner whatever 

6* 



66 • LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

with the oppressions of others, at least, goes as far as to 
pull the mote out of his brother's eye. He has often 
done this to abolitionists, and has also declaimed against 
foreign oppressions ; but the poor victims of our own 
dreadful oppressions, are sunk so low, that American 
eyes cannot behold them. But while our heads are so 
haughty, and our eyes so peculiarly blinded, and our 
hearts so peculiarly hardened, that we can see and feel 
the oppressions of all lands, save our own ; the eyes and 
the hearts of other nations, as well as that eye that 
sleepeth not, and that heart that ever feels for human 
affliction and woes, are ever open to the claims of mil- 
lions of oppressed Americans, trodden down under the 
iron hoof of American tyranny and American despot- 
ism. 

Is it not to be feared that it is too much the case with 
American republicanism, if not with American Christian- 
ity, as it was with the Italian nobleman's religion 1 Dr. 
Franklin, while at Paris, being in company with an Ital- 
ian nobleman, when the conversation turned upon the 
subject of religion, which the nobleman introduced : 
" How comes it," says the Doctor, " that the Italians, 
who are born at the very fountain of religion, should 
possess so little of it?" "That's easily answered," 
replied the nobleman. " In Italy," said he, " we manu- 
facture, it is true, a great quantity of religion ; but like 
all other manufactures, it's all for exportation." I would 
fain hope, indeed, that it is not true with us to the same 
extent. 

We have always, as a people, most liberally manifest- 
ed to the whole world, our deep abhorrence to all for- 
eign oppressions, and ever proffered our warmest sym- 



ILLUSTRATED. 67 

pathies to the oppressed in other lands " the world 
over." All this is as it should be. 

While we should ever maintain a rigid political neu- 
trality with friendly powers, we have an undoubted moral 
right, with proper discriminations of justice to all con- 
cerned, to do so. Nay, more : it is ever our most 
bounden moral duty so to do. And indeed, in consis- 
tency with our long and loud professions of love for uni- 
versal rational freedom, and for the highest possible 
good of mankind, how could we do less? But while 
we do the one because it is right f let us not leave the 
other undone, for it is wrong. In leaving the other un- 
done, we have rendered all our external manifestations 
of abhorrence to the foreign oppressor, and our proffers 
of sympathy to the foreign oppressed, comparatively 
powerless. The world has been saying to us, "what 
do ye more than others V 9 " First take the beam from 
thine own eye, that thou mayest see the more clearly to 
take the mote from thy brother's eye," has long been 
its language. 

What American, aware of the too just opinions en- 
tertained by the whole civilized world, of the enormity 
of American oppressions, must not feel this justly call- 
ed-for retort as a most powerful, cutting, and humiliating 
rebuke, before heaven and earth, and lay it to heart, and 
feel himself humbled, as in the very dust before it ? Is 
not our national conduct in truth, in this matter, like un- 
to a man who should be extremely provident to all his 
neighbours, while his own numerous and dependent fam- 
ily, to whom he professed great love and attachment, 
were left comparatively in a state of actual starvation ? 
What an enigma is man ! ! In a late speech of Ma\ 



68 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

Biddle, who recently fled here from Canada, (that land 
where 10,000 of our slaves have taken refuge) he labour- 
ed much to pass very high encomiums upon this land, as 
the gerat asylum of the oppressed. But let it be known 
that we have more than double the number of slaves than 
the entire population of both the Canadas. 

It was but yesterday I felt mortified and rebuked in 
the extreme, as an American citizen, in hearing a poor 
coloured man just from Canada, apparently with much 
simplicity and honesty, say, that the coloured people who 
had fled there for an asylum from American oppressions, 
were opposed to the Patriot cause in those Provinces, 
from the very fact that they had learned that American 
sympathy was with the Patriots. I felt in my soul to ex- 
claim, O ! my country, is this indeed, even so? 

He then further stated that the 10,000 coloured people 
who had fled there from the States, entertained great 
fears, that should the Patriot cause ever succeed in the 
Canadas, all the refugees there from American bondage, 
would either be reduced to slavery there, or at once be 
given up to American slave-hunters and kidnappers. 
All this is as natural as for the burnt child to dread the 
fire. But, " O, tell it not in Gath ;" publish not our na- 
tional shame " in the streets of Ashkelon !" Can our 
oppressed countrymen, indeed, find no asylum on earth 
secure from the tormenting fear of the tyrant's grasp, 
and the task-master's lash ! Must they, for naught, be 
continually hunted like the wild beast of the forest? 
Has humanity turned away forever from this people? 

This most thrilling consideration, however, shows 
two interesting facts, both of which slaveholders and 
their sycophantic apologists have always most cruelly 



ILLUSTRATED. 69 

and slanderously denied : — First, that this people have 
the discernment to see what government protects their 
rights : and secondly, that they have the fidelity to prove 
themselves true to that government. 

I mean not, by these remarks, that the people in Can- 
ada may not be more or less oppressed by their govern- 
ment, and that reform may be called for. But this is a 
question which I am not called upon here to discuss. 
To say the most, however, their oppressions can bear 
no sort of comparison whatever, to that of millions of 
Americans, born and living in our own country. And 
coloured people in Canada have learnt this full well, 
from the great and dear teacher, experience ; and they 
look back upon the States as Lot did upon Sodom ! 

As I have alluded to the unhappy state of affairs in a 
neighbouring power, I will just say here, that while I 
was gratified to hear a respectable minister of the gos- 
pel for whom I entertain a high regard, allude in the 
desk as I thought in a becoming manner to the late 
shocking massacre of some of our citizens by British 
soldiers on our frontier, I was also equally pained to 
learn that he has not as yet made even the most distant 
allusion to the previous massacre by riotous and mur- 
derous hands, of a valuable minister of the gospel, a 
brother of his own faith, shot down, it is true, not by 
British soldiers under at least a false shadow of pretext 
of the rights of warfare, but by the hands of some of his 
own mobocratic and recreant countrymen, for his nobly 
defending that for which our fathers fought and bled ; I 
mean suffering and dying liberty on our own soil. Why 
should not our sympathies for human suffering be at 
least somewhat proportioned to its intensity and mag- 



70 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

nitude? We are most cruelly driving the poor Indian 
from his native lands, as in Florida, to make still more 
room for the curse of slavery, 15,000 slaves being 
already unconstitutionally held in the same territory of 
the United States. Here are millions of our own 
countrymen as it were, before our own doors and before 
our own eyes, already deprived of all earthly civil rights, 
and in their dark midnight bondage, shut out from the 
blessed light of Heaven ; and the dearest ties of earthly 
attachment among them constantly and most wickedly 
rent asunder forever, — and here is our countryman, 
and our brother, whose bosom yearning with compas- 
sion for their dreadful sufferings, is constrained to step 
forward in love to defend their rights — his inalienable 
constitutional right of speech and liberty of the press are 
again and again tyrannically denied him ; his property 
in his press, that engine of freedom and terror to tyrants, 
is again and again destroyed — and with motives so 
pure, and in defence, as an American citizen for himself 
and for his country, of all these undoubted constitutional 
rights, after being long cruelly persecuted, and hunted 
from place to place like a beast of prey ; at length 
perishes in his own city by lawless and murderous hands, 
the mobocratic tools of base tyrants behind the awful 
scene ! All this he endured for his suffering fellow- 
man, and for his country. — And is his name unworthy 
of even one emotion of sympathy, some humble token 
of regard 1 Has he indeed, (as some have even pro- 
fanely dared to say,) " died as the fool dieth V " I 
tell you nay !" but his name shall be embalmed and im- 
mortalized in the grateful recollections of unborn mil- 
lions, who will yet rise up and call him blessed ! It will 



ILLUSTRATED. 71 

be forever honourably enrolled, not only with patriots 
and philanthropists below, but with martyrs triumphantly 
above ; — while the names of such as can " pass by on 
the other side" and withhold from his sainted memory 
the mere tribute of sympathy, at least for his untimely 
widoiced wife and orphaned children, will moulder in 
oblivion. While Lovejoy is dead he yet speaketh ! ! 

Before any aggressions were made upon us, to con- 
tribute liberally of our means, and to volunteer in per- 
son, to correct the opinions and the wrongs (even by the 
point of the bayonet) of a sister nation with whom we 
are at peace, has been by many among us considered 
noble ! But to express our opinions of the egregious 
and untold wrongs and oppressions of one sixth part of 
our own fellow-countrymen ; ah, cries a pharisee, this 
is a subject too sacred to be meddled with, and there are 
lips among us too pure to be tainted with language, in 
the least degree contributory to an influence so unhallow- 
ed. consistency, thou art indeed a jewel ! But when, 
when will our beloved country discover this jewel ! 

With regard to the jurisdiction of Congress over 
American Slavery, whatever Calhoun, Patton, and all 
their slaveholding associates, and their slavery apolo- 
gists and abettors, under whatever name, may say, in 
order to sustain the barbarous institution of slavery, and 
thereby to maintain their own despotic political or ec- 
clesiastical power, it will nevertheless be seen when all 
these dark clouds of interest and prejudice shall have 
blown over, that it is as clear as the brilliant sun at mid- 
day, that the Congress of the United States has a per- 
fect political or constitutional right to abolish slavery in 
the District of Columbia, in all the territories, and the 



72 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

inter-state slave traffic. This is all the constitutional 
political right that abolitionists have hitherto claimed, or 
acted upon ; and the extent of which they have asked 
Congress to exercise. All this, Franklin, Jay, and all 
their associates, also very justly claimed and acted upon 
on the same subject. But some modern pretended 
statesmen, in order to hold the enslaved, and enslave 
the free, have become vastly wiser in their own con- 
ceits than was Washington, and Franklin, and Jefferson, 
and all the immortal framers of the American Consti- 
tution. 

While a part of the slaveholding and pro-slavery 
politicians would fain confidently make us believe that 
the American constitution is already against the people 
meddling with slavery in any manner whatever, and that 
the slaves are now held with the same iron constitutional 
grasp in the District of Columbia, and in all the terri- 
tories of the United States as in the slave States, — other 
portions knowing this to be untenable ground, take the 
bold position, that the constitution must be altered so as 
to take away from the people the right of speech and 
petition on the subject, as they very speciously say, to 
support slavery and the Union. This would be like 
supporting one's body on the severe forfeiture of his 
head and his heart ! ! 

The arch stroke of all the master-workmen and 
champions for slavery and a despotical government, is, 
most adroitly to couple the existence of slavery with the 
existence of the Union ; and in this way, knowing the love 
the people have for the Union, they call upon them with 
some assurance that they will obey, to make every sacri- 
fice, even that of their own liberties to maintain slavery. 









ILLUSTRATED. 73 

Let us hear what Mr. Calhoun, the great nullifier and 
fftouth-piece of slaveholders said on this subject, while 
recently haranguing the political slave-holding senators 
to vote for his nullification and gag-law resolutions, as 
he required them to do, " to a man." This shows his 
political view of slavery ; and his moral view is, that it 
is, of all others, the very best and purest institution in the 
whole world. At least these are principles which he 
now zealously holds out, and calls upon all in the nation, 
north and south, east and west, to rally around this his 
political creed, and preserve, as he says, our "free in- 
stitutions" by reducing all free labourers to slavery. 

But he can not himself believe his own professed 
horrible doctrine, for he often becomes " choaked," and 
inadvertently contradicts himself. 

" I regard slavery, says he, u wherever it exists 
throughout the whole southern section, as one common 
question, and it is as much under the constitution in the 
District of Columbia, and in the territories, as in the 
States themselves ; and herein lies our safery. Aban- 
don this, and all is abandoned." He would tell the 
Southern senators, if these great principles be aban- 
doned, theirs would be the responsibility. If they 
yield, if even a small portion, one or two yield, in the 
slaveholding states, the members from the non-slave- 
holding must yield. They can not do otherwise. You 
force them to do it. How can they stand up, when you 
abandon your position? How can they defend them- 
selves at home, when told that even southern members 
had surrendered the ground? Let not the fallacious 
hope of drawing in votes, of uniting all, induce a sur- 
render of the strong and impregnable ground we oc- 

7 



74 LIBERT* AND SLAVERY 

cupy. If we stand fast, (says this oft foiled demagogue, 
but still ambitious man,) all who agree with us from arty 
quarter, all who hold to our political creed, (to wit, 
41 slavery is the best basis of freedom") will ultimately 
rally around our principles." 

These principles, be it ever remembered, are the lurk- 
ing principles of nullification, the despotic principles of 
trampling the people's sacred constitution with all its 
guarantees of freedom under foot with contempt. And 
finally, the principles of slaveholding politicians and 
ecclesiastics at the south, from their own plain declara- 
tions are, with what aid they can rally from kindred 
spirits at the north, speedily to enslave the entire labour- 
ing population of this nation, regardless of section or 
colour. 

The doctrine of slaveholding and of pro-slavery po- 
liticians is, that short of this, neither slavery nor this 
government can stand. Here is the poisonous bait ! .* 
so says Mr. Calhoun, " this is oiir true national posi- 
tion;" that is, we slaveholding politicians and eccle- 
siastics, have already " got our foot" firmly upon the 
necks of two and a half million of the labouring class 
in the southern portion of the country, and you north- 
ern aristocrats, whether monied, political, or ecclesi- 
astical, combine your despotic power, and throw your 
whole weight, with us, upon five millions more of this 
troublesome labouring class, and the Union and slavery 
are safe forever. 

We see in thi3 avowed declaration of sentiments a 
slaveholding and pro-slavery despotic creed, a most 
fearful scion, which, if the people do not soon discover 
and pluck it up by the roots, it will speedily grow en- 



ILLUSTRATED. 75 

tirely beyond their reach, and finally fall upon them to 
their destruction. 

I will here give the opinion of Daniel Webster — in 
relation to the jurisdiction of Congress over the District 
of Columbia, which I presume is worth more, among 
northern people especially, if not with many disinterest- 
ed southern people, than any nullifier's opinion tha^ 
Gen. Jackson ever bravely vetoed. Though while Mr, 
Webster so clearly and so firmly gives his opinion in a 
statesman-like manner in favour of the constitution, he 
does not come out boldly against that national system of 
oppression in our country, which is so surely, and so 
rapidly undermining all our free institutions. In the 
very midst of all such very able expositions of the con- 
stitution from Mr. Webster and others, " expediency '» 
will still ruin the country, unless the people soon arrest 
its most dangerous progress in its subtly stealing away 
their fundamental rights and liberties. The very touch 
of slavery to freedom, is contamination! ! 

The atmosphere itself, at the very seat of the boasted- 
ly freest government on earth, is impregnated with moral 
and political pollution! 

Mr. Webster, like many of our northern statesmen, 
of which we so proudly and so justly boast ; in relation 
to freedom of debate on the greatest subject which 
hangs over our nation, must, and I hope soon will be 
fully emancipated, by the " sovereigu people " coming 
up to his help to " stay up his hands." 

I believe thus far, no northern statesman who ever 
had much reputation to retain or to lose, though often 
tempted by southern inducements, has ever given his 
opinion absolutely against the constitutionality of Con- 



76 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

gress abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. 
Mr. Van Buren, previous to his late election to the pre- 
sidency of the United States, in reply to numerous and 
clamorous calls from slaveholding politicians, for his 
sentiments on this subject did not venture farther than 
to pledge himself, if elected, to veto any bill for the abo- 
lition of slavery in the District, on the ground of" inex- 
pediency," and an idle pretext, that the faith of Congress 
was plighted to the States making the cession. This, 
it is true, I believe, was an " expedient" stretch of con- 
science, and answered his purpose and the object of 
slaveholders in full ; as much so as though he had said 
in just so many words, that it is absolutely unconstitu- 
tional, and it was also "swallowed" by the north with 
much less " compunctions " and " strangulations " — It 
took like an indirect tax. The president, in his last 
message, as if nothing had happened, went on at length 
to recommend to Congress to exercise their jurisdiction 
over the District of Columbia, in all cases whatsoever, 
in revising or repealing obsolete laws, and enacting new 
ones to the full extent of the wants of the inhabitants ; 
informing Congress, that the people in this District had 
no other source to look to, and that heretofore, in the 
multiplicity of its duties, it had too much overlooked 
them. All this was well, and just as it should be. 
Now, with regard to the course which Mr. Van Buren 
took to find his way into the presidental chair, although 
a crooked one, it is, nevertheless, an easier path for the 
north to travel in, than any president hereafter will make 
them, so long as tyranny, the political and moral curse 
of slavery, governs this nation. I mean by this, that the 
enormous slaveholding power in this nation, is becoming 






I 



ILLUSTRATED. 77 

more and more arrogant, and more and more rigorous 
and exorbitant in its tyrannical exactions of servile 
northern obedience to its dictation. If I can judge at 
all by the despotic, slaveholding spirit and tone of the 
Congress of 1838, the " dear and sovereign people " may 
think themselves most graciously dealt by, if the " grim 
monster," slavery, with his servile sycophants, does not 
peremptorily demand of the next presidential candidate, 
as the rigorous terms of his election, that he not only 
tread in Mr. Van Buren's footsteps, but that he go as 
far, on grounds of " expediency," to compromise the 
right of speech and 'petition on the subject of slavery, as 
Mr. Van Buren did to compromise the right of Congress 
to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. " This, 
says JWr. Calhoun, is our true national j>osition /" That 
odious term, " expediency," is now but a softer name 
for dishonesty or tyranny. Every school-boy in the 
United States, of six years of age, ought to read our 
constitution, and to read it straighter than many of our 
great politicians, with their crooked " expedient " eyes 
do read it. And unless the great body of the people 
will so teach their children, — their constitution, and 
with it their liberties, are destined, at no distant day, to be 
swallowed up by the all-devouring vortex of " expedi- 
ency," slavery, and despotism. As the opinion of Mr. 
Webster, on this subject, would have weight with many, 
I deem it proper in this place to make an extract from 
a late speech of his delivered in the Senate of the United 
States, against the passage of Mr. Calhoun's "gag- 
law " resolutions : ** I do not know, said Mr. Web- 
ster, any matter of facts, or any ground of argument 

upon which this plighted faith can be sustained. I see 

7* 



78 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

nothing, said he, by which Congress has tied up its 
hands, either directly or indirectly, so as to put its clear 
constitutional power beyond the exercise of its own dis- 
cretion. I have carefully examined the acts of cessions 
by the States, the act of Congress, the proceedings and 
history of the times, and I find nothing to lead me to 
doubt that it was the intention of all parties to leave this, 
like other subjects belonging to the legislation for the 
ceded territory, entirely to the discretion and wisdom of 
Congress. The words of the constitution are clear and 
plain. None could be clearer or plainer. Congress, 
by that instrument, has power to exercise exclusive 
jurisdiction over the ceded territory in all cases whatso- 
ever." The acts of cession contain no limitation, con- 
dition, or qualification whatever. The acts of cession 
declare that the tract of country " is forever ceded and 
relinquished to Congress, and to the government of the 
United States, in full and absolute right, and exclusive 
jurisdiction, as well of soil, as of persons residing, orjo 
reside therein, pursuant to the tenour and effect of the 8th 
section of the first article of the constitution of the 
United States." Now, that section to which reference 
is thus expressly made in these deeds of cession, de- 
clares that Congress shall have power " to exercise ex- 
clusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such 
District, not exceeding ten miles square, as may by ces- 
sion of particular States, and the acceptance of Con- 
gress, become the seat of government of the United 
States." " Nothing, therefore, as it seems to me," con- 
tinues this senator, " can be clearer, than that the states 
making the cession, expected Congress to exercise over 
the District precisely that power, and neither more nor 



ILLUSTRATED. 79 

less which the constitution had conferred upon it." " I 
do not know," said Mr. Webster, "how the provision 
or the intention, either of the constitution, in granting the 
power, or of the states in making the cession, could be 
expressed in a manner more absolutely free from all 
doubt or ambiguity." H I see, therefore," says this 
clear-headed statesman, " nothing in the act of cession, 
and nothing in the constitution, and nothing in the his- 
tory of this transaction, implying any limitation upon the 
authority of Congress." Here is a clear and lucid view 
of the entire jurisdiction of Congress over the District 
of Columbia, in all cases whatsoever, and yet loads of 
the peoples' petitions for the abolition of slavery in this 
District are insultingly stowed away in the Capitol, un- 
read and unnoticed. ! " expediency," thou hollow- 
hearted, dishonest nullifier of all constitutions, and con- 
temner of all law, " human or divine." I have spoken 
of Mr. Van Buren's crooked course to find his way into 
the presidental chair ; but let me by no means be under- 
stood as supposing him to be of all men the worst. I 
am not at all prepared to say how many men there are 
.of all political parties or creeds, even at the north, who, 
from southern bribery, might not be induced to go much 
farther than even Mr. Van Buren has gone, in compro- 
mising the constitutional liberties of freemen to the in- 
terests of slavery. I know not what Webster, or Har- 
rison, or Clay, might be tempted to do if an opportunity 
presented, were the people found sleeping. In all truly 
free governments, the people are master, and the ser- 
vants obey ; but when the masters are blind or absent, 
these servants are idle, the vineyard undressed, or its 
fruit destroyed. 



80 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

" Again," said Mr. Webster, on the same occasion, 
" looking back to the state of things then existing, and 
especially to what Congress had done so recently before, 
when it accepted the cession of the north-western ter- 
ritory, I entertain no doubt whatever, that Congress 
would have refused the cession, if offered, with any con- 
dition or understanding, that its constitutional authority 
to exercise exclusive legislation over the District in all 
cases whatsoever should be abridged." 

Mr. Webster, like many northern as well as southern 
statesmen, from the impression doubtless that the whole 
people were not yet sufficiently informed on the subject 
of slavery on all its tremendous bearings upon the liber- 
ties of the country to sustain him, has not as yet, so far as 
I know, fully committed himself on the subject of aboli- 
tion : but to show that no one can for a moment, reason 
logically upon the first principles of civil liberty, or upon 
the American constitution, (the exercise of which alone, 
can support free government) without falling inadver- 
tently, whether he will or not, into pure ancient as well 
as modern abolition sentiments, I will here cite a few 
paragraphs from a still later speech of his in the Senate . 
upon a subject having no reference whatever, either to 
slavery, or to the District of Columbia. — It will be 
borne in mind by the reader, in connexion with Mr. 
Webster's very sound remarks which I am about to cite, 
not only that Mr. Webster, but the whole nation, until 
quite recently, have always most fully admitted the 
constitutional power of Congress over the seat of our 
free government, at once to order all the handcuffs, 
chains, fetters, and yokes, to be taken from all innocent 
men, women and children therein ; but that the south 



ILLUSTRATED. 81 

now have closed the doors of the people's capitol against 
the whole subject, by gag laws, to reject the people's pe- 
titions, in open defiance of their own constitution, and 
that many northern members also have proved recreant 
to their high trusts, and have even dared to aid in thus 
closing the doors of the capitol against their own con- 
stituents upon the dangerous, unmanly, and cowardly 
plea of inexpediency. If things are suffered to go on 
much longer at this high-handed rate, one might well 
think there would not be a man in the nation, coloured or 
uncoloured, who would have courage enough to claim his 
own wife and children, if a slaveholder perchance should 
happen to want them. — The following are the words of 
Mr. Webster as alluded to : "I care not, Sir, on what 
side, or in which of its branches the constitution may be 
attacked. Every successful attack upon it, made any 
where weakens the whole, and renders the next assault 
easier and more dangerous. Any denial of its just pow- 
ers is an attack upon it, We attack it, most fiercely 
attack it, whenever we say we will not exercise the powers 
which it enjoins. Sir, it is the nature of such things, 
that the first violation, or the first departure from true 
principles, draws more important violations or departures 
after it ; and the first surrender of just authority, will be 
followed by others more to be deplored. If there be 
made a first chasm, though it be small, through that the 
whole wide ocean will pour in, and we may then throw 
up embankments in vain." Mr. Webster himself, pro- 
bably never uttered words before this nation of more 
solemn import, than the few just cited. Let us as a 
whole nation beware before too late, lest the glorious 
constitution of our venerable fathers be not rendered a 



82 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

nullity, a mere mockery, by false policy ; and the syren 
song of " expediency " finally lure us to shipwreck and 
ruin. The constitution must be held sacred and no- 
bly lived up to by the north and by the south, by the 
east and by the west : or though the mere form remain, 
the spirit of liberty will be grieved, weep over the peo- 
ple, and take her flight forever from the land. — Mr. 
Webster further remarks upon the constitution : " In- 
trusted with some part in the administration of that 
constitution, I intend to act in its spirit, and in the spirit 
of those who framed it. Yes, Sir, I would act as if our 
fathers who formed it for us, and who bequeathed it to 
us, were looking on us ; as if I could see their venerable 
forms bending down to behold us from the abodes above. 
I would act too, Sir, as if that long line of posterity were 
also viewing us, whose eye is hereaftar to scrutinize our 
conduct. Standing thus as in the full gaze of our ances- 
tors and our posterity ; having received this inheritance 
from the former to be transmitted to the latter ; and feel- 
ing that if I am born for any good in my day and gene- 
ration, it is for the good of the whole country ; no local 
policy, or local feeling, no tempory impulse shall induce 
me to yield my foothold on the constitution and the 
Union." Now regardless of party or the man from 
whom they emanated, what lover of the American con- 
stitution and of our whole country can deny these to be 
great and noble views 1 Yet, whatever the opinions of the 
friends of the author may be, in relation to his prospects 
for the chief magistracy of this amalgamated union ; 
knowing as I do, that his consistent and independent 
views of the constitution are carried out upon the jour- 
nals of the senate, and are before the nation ; to me such 



ILLUSTRATED. 83 

an event would be little less than a miracle, with the pre- 
sent slaveholding, constitution-crushing power upon the 
nation, unless indeed like others gone before him, he 
too, by the bribery of human flesh, and blood, and souls, 
could possibly find himself capable of sliding from the 
high and healthful ground he now occupies into the 
smooth, but sickly stream of expediency. Better; far 
better, for the country and for the world, that he should 
still live and die in his integrity in the senate-chamber of 
the nation. Whoever heard of one's being blessed in 
" doing evil that good might come," or in attempting to 
reform a nation by first himself turning recreant to truth ? 
An idle dream ! — like a virtuous lady knowingly uni- 
ting her fortune for time, with a worthless man, upon a 
pretence of benevolence to effect his permanent refor- 
mation. 

In a late speech of Garret Smith, Esq. on this subject, 
which among the many very able and happy efforts of 
that gentleman for the last twenty years in the cause of 
suffering humanity, and all the rights of his fellow-man 
and his country, will not I think rate second in point of 
usefulness, he shows most clearly and conclusively that 
it has not been the efforts of abolitionists, which have 
rendered it unconstitutional and inexpedient to abolish 
the slave traffic in the District of Columbia, between the 
States and in the territories, and put back emancipation 
fifty or a hundred years : but the invention, introduction, 
and successful operation of the cotton gin, together with 
the unhallowed influence of political and designing de- 
magogues to advance themselves into power over all 
the sacrificed and crushed rights of two and a half mil- 
lions of our trodden down countrymen, and that these 



84 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

demagogues have sunk the iron of oppression deep into 
the souls of these our fellow-countrymen to sustain their 
own ill-gotten and unrighteous political power. And is 
there not likewise, says Mr. Smith, conclusive evidence 
of the absurdity of the supposition, that Maryland had 
the infatuated zeal for slavery which she is now repre- 
sented to have had ? As early as the year 1785, her 
delegation voted- to free the northwestern territory from 
this curse. In point of thoroughness and decision, the 
u abolitionism " of her statesman surpassed that of the 
statesman of Virginia. Luther Martin, whom more than 
any other of her sons she delighted to honour, was a 
member of the convention that formed the constitution 
of the United States. Such was his zeal for the aboli- 
tion of slavery throughout the nation, that he insisted 
that Congress should be invested with power to effect it. 
Scarcely inferior to his, was the strong hold which her 
William Pinkney had upon her affections and admira- 
tion. This celebrated jurist set no bounds to his abhor- 
rence of slavery; and so admirable, so unrivalled, is one 
of the abolition speeches which he delivered in the 
Maryland House of Delegates in 1789, that the aboli- 
tionists of this day have printed and scattered tens of 
thousands of copies of it. " Sir," said Mr. Pinckney in 
that speech, " by the eternal principles of natural justice, 
no master in the State has a right to hold his slave in 
bondage for a single hour." How idle is it to represent 
Virginia and Maryland as clinging to slavery at the time 
the District of Columbia was constituted — and so 
peculiarly tenacious of its prolongation in that District! 
The truth is, that no fact stands out more prominently 
in the history of those States during the first fifteen 



ILLUSTRATED. 85 

years after the beginning of the revolutionary war, than 
that of the decay of their attachment to this institution 
(slavery) which would long since have expired entirely, 
but for the reviving influences upon it of the invention 
of the Cotton Gin. As a proof of the decline of this 
attachment, those states, Virginia in 1782, and Mary- 
land in 1787, passed acts legalizing manumission. Ah ! 
cries the anti-abolitionist, were it not for you " fanatics," 
slavery would soon now be abolished. But in reply to 
this, let it only be remembered that the mammon of un- 
righteousness in the sudden and great increase of the 
cotton trade, swallowed up the fanaticism of the Wash- 
ingtons, Jeffersons, Madisons, Masons, Franklins, 
and Tylers, in favour of human liberty, with all the 
examples of emancipation in the northern states before 
the country. The poor slave, if not the free, may well 
curse the day that the Cotton Gin inventor was born. 
I mean by this, that the slaveholding interest through the 
whole nation, has became so vast and overwhelming in 
consequence, that, it now dares seriously to menace the 
liberties of the free of the whole nation. Should the 
question actually be put to every mother in the land, 
which she would choose ; to sit at the spinning wheel 
as in " olden times," or to see her sons enslaved ; who 
dares to suppose for a moment that she would say the 
latter 1 Nay more ! who does not know, if necessary 
to prevent such a calamity to her children, that she 
would not only sit at the wheel, but most cheerfully 
pull the flax also, and break it, and manufacture it entire 
with her own hands even, as did the noble matrons of 
the revolution while our fathers were contending on the 
battle field for our liberties. Then what is slavery, 

8 



86 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

and what is liberty ! and " what man seeing this, and 
having human feelings, must not blush and hang hiss 
head," if he is not doing all in his power for the speedy 
and peaceful liberation of two and a half millions of our 
suffering countrymen in base bondage, — claim not that 
magic name " republican," nor that more hallowed one, 
" christian," if it be not so. There is not a mother 
or a sister in the land who would not cheerfully, if ne- 
cessary, lay aside the piano, leave the parlour, and toil 
in the field even, to redeem her sons, or her brothers, 
from so cruel a bondage. 

Among many other evidences that the State of New- 
York, as well as other States in the Union, has not al- 
ways thought it unconstitutional nor inexpedient for 
Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, 
is the joint resolution of her Senate and Assembly, 
strongly and decidedly in favour of its immediate aboli- 
tion in the session of 1829, one or two short extracts 
from the very able report in favour of liberty ; from the 
report of her committee at this session for the satisfac- 
tion of any who may not have read the report, or if they 
have, may have forgotten it, I will here give : — " That 
they have given said memorials all the considerations 
which the importance of the subject demands, and have 
reason to believe that a vast majority of the citizens of 
the non-slaveholding states have for a long time regarded 
the existence of slavery in that district of our country as 
entirely inconsistent with our national character, and our 
republican professions and institutions. The committee 
cannot but view with astonishment, that in the very ca- 
pital of this free and enlightened country, laws should 
exist by which the free citizens of a State are liable, 



ILLUSTRATED. 87 

without trial, and even without the imputation of crime, 
to be seized while prosecuting their lawful business, — 
immured in prison ; and, though free, unless claimed as 
slaves, to be sold as such for the payment of jail fees. 
That sacred spot, consecrated, as it were, to freedom, 
by being set apart as the seat of the national government, 
and the site of the great national temple of liberty, should 
be entirely clear of this stigma. The committee would 
respectfully suggest, that a resolution calling the atten- 
tion of our senators and representatives in Congress to 
this subject would likely be a help in removing slavery 
from that district." Feb. 16, 1829, the following re- 
solution was adopted : — " Resolved, if the Senate con- 
cur herein (and the Senate did concur,) that the sena- 
tors of this State in the Congress of the United States, 
be, and are hereby instructed ; and the representatives 
of this State are requested, to make every proper exer- 
tion to effect the passage of a law for the abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia." Wonder what 
the present senators from New- York could say to this, 
both of whom, in the session of the Congress of 1838, 
cast their whole influence on the side, not of constitu- 
tional liberty for all, but of unconstitutional slavery for 
all, regardless of colour. When we compare all these 
past noble efforts in favour of liberty, with the last two or 
three years proceedings in our empire, but disgraced 
State, as well as in our whole land, while pro-slavery 
demagogues have been able to raise their base pro- 
slavery mobocratic tools, to put down freedom of debate 
on the subject of the liberty both of the actually en- 
slaved and the nominally free ; and also, the late re- 
creant and disgraceful proceedings of Congress in the 



88 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

passage of their unconstitutional, tyrannical slavery re^ 
solutions to abridge the liberty of speech, and to deny 
and suppress the right of petition of the people ; who is 
not ready to exclaim with indignant amazement, " How 
are the mighty fallen ! How has the gold become brass, 
and the fine gold dim." 

It does appear to me there can be no doubt that the 
truth is, so far from there being a particle of plighted 
faith to Maryland and Virginia on the part of Congress, 
never to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia 
without their consent, as is now pretended for effect by 
slaveholding politicians and their abettors, that no im- 
partial person can sit down and deliberately read over 
the plain words of the acts of cession, and the whole 
history of those times in relation to the very favourable 
state of public sentiment, both north and south, in regard 
to the speedy and entire abolition of slavery in the whole 
land, — without seeing that it was then deemed a high 
favour by those states, for Congress to accept the ces- 
sion of that district for the seat of the national govern- 
ment altogether unconditionally ; or, as expressed in 
the constitution itself, that Congress should " exercise 
exclusive legislative control over it in all cases whatso- 
ever." 

Who that knows that at the very time the cession 
was made the northern states were ripe for abolishing 
their slavery ; that numerous abolition societies then 
existed, not only in " Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, New-York, and New-Jersey, but also in Vir- 
ginia and Maryland ; and that numerous addresses and 
sermons denouncing slavery in every part of the country 
by the Pinckneys, the Jays, the Franklins, the Edwardses,. 



ILLUSTRATED. 89 

the Hopkinses, the Stileses, the Patrick Henrys, and 
the Thomas JefFersons," of those better days for free- 
dom, can even imagine for a moment that the north 
was then so dependent on the south ; that with the then 
prevailing sentiments, and with a large balance of poli- 
tical power in her favour, she would even have accepted 
the cession upon any other considerations than upon en- 
tire and independent grounds of freedom, according to 
the very clear, expressive, and conclusive words of the 
constitution itself, that Congress should forever " exer- 
cise exclusive legislation over the district in all cases 
whatsoever." It does appear to me, aside from the 
unequivocal language of the constitution, that it would 
be the very height of absurdity, under all these decidedly 
favourable circumstances for independence and freedom 
on the part of Congress, to suppose that body capable 
at that time of submitting to any unnecessary requisitions 
which should tie up its own hands, or compromise its 
own liberties and independence. It would certainly 
seem, that to one familiar with the public mind, and the 
state of the whole country at that time, that this could 
not be even a supposable case. Indeed, the people of 
Maryland and Virginia themselves, in these better days 
for liberty, were not far behind their northern neighbours 
in the noble cause of freedom and human rights. 

The public mind, at this time, from the great and in- 
teresting scenes of the revolution, was so thoroughly 
imbued with the spirit of liberty, that it could not help 
but fewl for every creature in vile bondage. But, alas ! 
how has long and continued prosperity blunted the bet- 
ter feelings of our natures. 

These states made the cession not only in full view 
8* 



90 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

of the proposed constitution to be adopted, immediately 
after, and to which they had previously signified their 
full assent, with the known provisions that the foreign 
slave-trade was to cease after the year 1808 ; and that 
Congress, if it accepted the cession of the district, was 
to " exercise exclusive legislation over it in all cases 
whatsoever :" but they were, moreover, so desirous 
that the seat of the national government should be lo- 
cated somewhere in that section of the country, that in 
the very words of the acts of cession they said, if Con- 
gress would accept the cession for the capital of the 
nation, it might make the selection in any part of those 
states. The words of the act of cession of Maryland, 
in relation to this point, are as follows, — (referring to 
the representatives of that State, who were to meet in 
New-York in March following for the adoption of the 
constitution:) — "And they are hereby authorized and 
required, on the behalf of this State, to cede to the Con- 
gress of the United States, any district in this State 
not exceeding ten miles square, which the Congress 
may fix upon and accept for the seat of Government of 
the United States." The language of the act of cession 
of Virginia, under precisely the same circumstances, is, 
" Wherein a location of ten miles square, if the ivisdom 
of Congress shall so direct, the states of Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia, may participate in such loca- 
tion." If Virginia had even cared, at that time, any thing 
about the preservation of slavery, while she was propos- 
ing to Congress to accept a portion of her territory for 
the seat of the "freest Government in the world" who 
must not see that she would not thus have proposed the 
accommodation of Pennsylvania. 



ILLUSTRATED. 91 

We also read in the Virginia act of cession, these very 
explicit words : " Be it therefore further enacted by the 
General Assembly, that a tract of country not exceeding 
ten miles square, or any lesser quantity, to be located 
within the limits of this state, and in any part thereof, as 
Congress may by law direct, shall be, and the same is 
hereby forever ceded and relinquished to the Congress 
and Government of the United States, in full and abso- 
lute right, and exclusive jurisdiction, as well of soil 
as of persons, residing or to reside thereon, pursuant to 
the tenour and effect of the eighth section of the first 
article of the Government of the United States." 

So here, in this proposition of Virginia to Congress, 
to accept of said proposed cession, she alludes to the 
very clause in the constitution of the United States, 
giving Congress the "exclusive legislative control in 
all cases whatsoever," over any district for the seat of 
government, which Congress might accept. In either 
acts of cession there is not a syllable of reservation or 
proviso, on the part of the states so desirous to make 
the cession, except Virginia barely says the act shall 
not be so construed as to affect the rights of individuals 
in the soil merely." If presumptions have any thing at 
all to do in this matter, whoever is acquainted with the 
very favourable state of public sentiment towards eman- 
cipation at the time the cession was made, it does 
appear to me that they must judge, that so far from 
there being a particle of plighted faith implied on the 
part of Congress to these states, that the presumption is 
altogether on the other side, that the states deemed it a 
high favour for Congress to accept the cession on its 
own terms, and entirely favourable to independence and 



92 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

freedom ; and that they would very soon follow the pro- 
posed good work of emancipation of their northern sister 
states. But ! the cotton gin, avarice, and dema- 
gogues, what hast thou done, and what canst thou not 
do 1 But as I have proposed to reply to so many objec- 
tions, I am admonished to be brief; but I cannot for- 
bear to add two or three facts, out of volumes that might 
be cited to show that the whole country, from the then 
existing state of things, in relation to slavery, did have 
good reason strongly to hope that the South would go 
on immediately with the North, after the adoption of the 
constitution, in the then so greatly desired work of im- 
mediate emancipation. And first, who can suppose for 
a moment, that the North, with a large balance of politi- 
cal power, would have adopted the constitution ; giving 
three-fifths of the slave property a representation, had 
it supposed that the slaves would have increased from 
half a million to two and a half millions, by 1S38 ; and 
that property, in human flesh and blood, would have 
thirty representatives in the national councils in 1840? 
Again, what had the North good reason to hope from 
the South, in the cause of emancipation, when every 
slaveholding member of Congress, from the States of 
Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and 
Georgia, voted for the celebrated ordinance of 1787, 
(one year before the cession of the District of Columbia, 
and the adoption of the constitution) which abolished all 
the slavery then existing in the great extent of country 
of the northwest territory ; and when these states also 
voted unanimously to abolish the foreign slave traffic, 
and when among the many noble sons of Virginia, 
Jefferson had publicly said " the way I hope is preparing 



ILLUSTRATED. 93 

under the auspices of heaven, for a total emancipation." 
Mr. Madison of Virginia, said, "the dictates of human- 
ity — the principles of the people — the national safety 
and happiness, and prudent policy, required it (emancipa- 
tion) of us. The constitution has particularly called 
our attention to it." It is to be hoped, said he, that we 
may save ourselves from reproaches, and our posterity 
the imbecility ever attendant on a country filled with 
slaves. Washington said, " there are in Pennsylvania, 
laws for the gradual abolition of slavery, which neither 
Maryland nor Virginia have at present, but which 
nothing is more certain than that they must have, and at 
a period not remote." A reason urged in the convention 
that formed the constitution, why the word slave should 
not be used in it was, that when slavery should cease, 
there might remain upon the national character, no record 
that it had ever been. All this shifting positions from 
unconstitutionality to plighted faith, and from pretended 
plighted faith to expediency to support the Union, only 
goes to prove the whole slavery cause untenable. 

The truth is, it is like " hoping against hope to look 
for a shadow of testimony ; or a single circumstance 
that could be tortured into plighted faith, on the part of 
Congress to the states, making the cession. But exactly 
the reverse of this might be fairly inferred. From all 
the then existing circumstances, there was indeed, vir- 
tually, a plighted faith on the part of those states, as well 
as all the other slave states to Congress, and to the whole 
people, and to the world, that they would go immediately 
and banish slavery from their bounds. This was then, 
most assuredly, the flattered and flattering hope in this 
country and in Europe. Indeed the world had good 



94 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

reason to expect this of us, as we had ourselves just 
closed a seven years' hard contention for liberty. 

For further particulars on this subject, as well as on 
the subject of slavery in general, I would refer any one 
who has not already perused them, to the invaluable re- 
marks of H. B. Stanton Esq., before a committee of 
representatives of Massachusetts, to whom was refered 
sundry memorials on the subject of slavery ; and also to 
a phamphlet of about sixty pages, which has recently 
made its appearance under the signature of " Wythe," 
supposed to be the production of Theodore D. Weld, 
with ample extracts from the writings and speeches of 
most of the public men on the subject of slavery, North 
and South, for sometime previous to, at the time, and 
subsequent to the adoption of the constitution, showing 
most conclusively, that the universal expectation of the 
whole country was, not only that Congress, in accepting 
the ten miles square for the seat of the general govern- 
ment, reserved to itself the full power to make and unmake 
laws in the district at its pleasure, or as, in the very words 
of the constitution, " in all cases whatsoever ;" but that it 
possessed no constitutional power to accept a location for 
the seat of government upon any other ground ; and 
moreover, that from every expression of the whole 
country at that time, and of southern as well as northern 
members of the convention adopting the constitution at 
the time the cession was accepted, the universal admis- 
sion was constantly made, that slavery was a very great 
moral and political evil, and that the members finally left 
the convention satisfied on the subject of slavery, from 
the apparent impression of all, that it would very soon 
at least, be abolished in the whole land ; or as one mem- 



ILLUSTRATED. 95 

ber emphatically expressed it in the convention, that 
although slavery was not stricken with the apoplexy, he 
trusted it had the consumption. But again, let it be re- 
peated, the cotton gin, avarice, and " politicians," have 
wrought a woful change in public sentiment throughout 
this country, since those " golden days of liberty." 

I regard these pamphlets as embracing a remarkably 
succinct and lucid view of the subject of American 
slavery. They are worth — I was about to say, their 
weight in gold, to every American citizen. It would 
indeed be so, if he would read their contents, and follow 
the dictates of wisdom therein suggested. Our whole 
nation might then be free indeed ! and become a truly 
great and a happy people, the wonder, and the just 
praise of the whole earth ! 

And while the political right, for the slave states to hold 
slaves in their respective states, (whatever the constitu- 
tion in strictness may be,) is at present generally conced- 
ed by abolitionists, still for the people to renounce their 
inalienable moral right, to speak against slavery, even 
here, and every where, in ail its forms ; or if they please, 
to speak against any law, or any article in the constitu- 
tion of any state, or of the United States, would be for 
the " sovereign people," voluntarily to open their own 
mouths, and to receive the odious gag by their own 
hands. 

It would be tamely surrendering the right to exercise 
that original right of thought, and speech, in regard to 
the affairs of our own nation, which we have always, and 
do still so rightfulully, and so righteously exercise, in 
respect to every thing we may deem either morally or 
politically wrong, the " world over." If we ever do, 



96 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

indeed, meanly submit to this degradation, it will then 
truly be time (as other nations tell us, on account of 
our slavery,) to be silent forever, about all the " oppres- 
sions and the wrongs with which earth is filled." 

Could we ever come to this as a people, owing to our 
unaccountable hatred of and consequent desire to en- 
slave our coloured countrymen, (which may heaven for- 
bid*,) a deep sense of our own shame would then for- 
ever terrify us, should we ever again attempt to name 
the oppressions of the Greeks, the Poles, or of our 
neighbours the Canadians, or any other wrongs which 
we may conceive to be grievously inflicted upon our 
fellow-men. It is, indeed, a " pretty " doctrine, for re- 
creant senators gravely to inculcate, from the councils 
of this nation, in order to support the rotten and tottering 
fabric of slavery, that any people on earth can bind 
themselves up by constitutions and laws, which they 
have themselves no moral right whatever to lisp a sylla- 
ble against. 

This would, indeed, then be a free government with 
a vengeance, just as tyrants would have it — to their 
own liking, but at the vast expense of the liberties of 
the people. 



SECTION II. 



• 



"I AM AS MUCH OPPOSED TO SLAVERY AS ANY ONE, 
AND THINK IT A GREAT EVIL, BUT WE CAN DO NO 
GOOD TO DISCUSS IT AT THE NORTH." 

This objection would seem to pre-suppose that northern 
hands are not already imbrued in the blood of southern 
slaves. But let us look at facts in this matter, and see 
how it stands, whether, indeed, we can with truth lay the 
flattering unction to our souls, that we are above re- 
proach, or even suspicion on this subject. I know that 
we have long been wont to compliment ourselves, with 
great complacency at the north, that because we were 
not actual slaveholders, and daily accustomed to hear 
the chains, the handcuffs, and the lash, upon our innocent 
fellow-countrymen, therefore, we could in no sense 
whatever be justly implicated in the practice of holding 
slaves, or be identified with the slaveholder himself. 
But what have we been doing on this subject, by our 
representatives in Congress for the last half century? 
We have always held a majority of votes at the north, 
and now have forty-four majority in a joint ballot of both 
Houses of Congress ; yet northern votes have been ad- 
ding slave state to slave state, until seven have been 
added since the original thirteen were organized, so that 
our '■''free republic " now stands, made up of fourteen 
free states, and twelve slave states, besides the territories 
and the yet disputed Mexican province. (" Texas," in 

9 



98 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

fearful prospect of a speedy admission into the Union, 
notwithstanding the artful truce of the present calm,) 
as a vast additional vortex of human liberty ; unless the 
north, who now have the right, and the means, will 
awake in time to prevent so direful a calamity to them- 
selves and their children, to the nation, and to the 
world, to say nothing of the cruel enslavement of unborn 
millions of the ill-fated coloured people. 

Are any still incredulous about the disposition of a 
portion of the north to aid the south to perpetuate and to 
extend the institution of slavery, at almost any sacrifice 
of the liberties of the people, under the fearfully decep- 
tive pretext that this is the dernier resort to preserve the 
Union? Let such look carefully at the drift of the as- 
tounding arguments of northern members in ihe late 
Session of Congress on this subject, and also to what 
speaks louder than arguments, their votes, as recorded 
on the journals of both houses, as a perpetual memorial 
of northern subserviency to slaveholding dictation; not 
only at the late Session of Congress, but at many pre- 
vious sessions. Look too at the refusal of some to sign 
petitions to Congress against the annexation of Texas. 
This is a subject no less tremendous and thrilling than 
that of human liberty, and facts irresistible should be 
made to stand out before the people and speak for them- 
selves. Let us ever bear in mind the treacherous 
manner in which the independence of the revolted 
Mexican province was acknowledged. 

At the late admission of Arkansas into the Union, 
with its bloodv constitution, that slavery never should be 
abolished within its bounds ; sixty-three northern votes 
are recorded in its favour, and only fifty-three against 



ILLUSTRATED. 99 

it; so that the north, of itself, independent of the south, 
would have given it admission into the Union as a slave 
state, and that too, with this most extraordinary consti- 
tution, with a majority of ten votes. 

It will be borne in mind also, that this is the seventh 
slave state thus admitted into the Union by the aid of 
northern influence since the original thirteen were or- 
ganized. We see, then, how much greater advances 
slavery and despotism have made in our country, both 
in regard to the possession of territory and political in- 
fluence, than freedom. The northern sons of freedom 
now begin to feel the same iron of oppression which 
holds in cruel bondage the entire labouring class of the 
southern portion of our country sinking deeper and 
deeper into their own souls. 

Say not, the north, whether conscious or unconscious 
of it, in point of fact, have not long been acting directly 
for the extension and perpetuation of southern slavery. 
Let any one look over the Journals of Congress for 
years past, and then longer wonder if he can, how slave- 
holders can dare to boast, that what they do not now 
own of the United States, they soon will own, that is, of 
the " labouring class of property." There are also, a 
great variety of sinister interests at the north, not known 
to all, or not duly considered by them, to induce many 
to give their influence, either directly or indirectly, fully 
to the slaveholding interest. 

Among many others which will be named hereafter, 
northern wholesale merchants in our large commercial 
towns and cities, have been lately found to hold mort- 
gages to the amount of many millions on southern 
slaves, which accounts in part for so many extensive 



100 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

failures among some of our wholesaling commercial 
houses. Large manufacturing, and also many book 
and printing establishments, are deeply and extensively 
interested in southern trade. 

Many northern public houses of entertainment and 
places of amusement, such as hotels, theatres, &c, are 
greatly interested in the reception of the millions, the 
price of the blood of the oppression of this nation paid 
into their hands, Judas-like, by 50,000 southern patrons 
annually ; northern institutions of learning, having 
many southern students, whose fathers and friends 
are slaveholders ; numerous national ecclesiastical, as 
well as political bodies, (or fear of division, (each body 
proudly numbering Israel) ; numerous individuals at 
the north having slaveholding relatives, friends, and ac- 
quaintances at the south, for fear of alienation ; all 
these, with many other similar causes, — all serve as so 
many strong barriers of pride, of interest, and of preju- 
dice to the free discussion of slavery, and to the pre- 
valence of the righteous and heaven-approved doctrine 
of immediate and unconditional emancipation. Also to 
these wicked and sinister interests, and to kindred ones, 
are the sources of nearly all that northern benevolent 
colonization influence, to colonize the troublesome free 
2?eople of colour only, (which so much pleases the spe- 
culator in human flesh,) clearly traceable. Whoever 
doubts this, let him carefully and impartially read Judge 
"Jay's Inquiries" into the origin and the whole policy 
of the slaveholding colonizationists, and also to look 
at the principles and proceedings of this pro-slavery 
society. It is as wicked and as flagrant a violation of 
justice, to make the condition of emancipation a " con- 



ILLUSTRATED. 101 

sent to be colonized," as it would be to withhold a given 
amount of stolen property until the robbed man would 
agree to take an oath that the moment the property of 
which he was so wickedly robbed, should be restored to 
him, he would consent to be banished from the country 
of his birth forever. This is naked American coloniza- 
tion in its most odious deformity. In the effect of all 
these combined influences, also, do we not at once find 
a most satisfactory solution to the question : " Why is it 
that the north have suffered her own citizens to be so 
often mobbed, and so much abused, for peacefully dis- 
cussing slavery? In looking over these various in- 
terests at the north, every discriminating eye must most 
clearly discover the line of demarkation between colo- 
nization, (alias anti-abolition,) and the self-evident doc- 
trine of the righteousness of immediate and uncondi- 
tional emancipation without expatriation. To name 
but one single barrier, the mountainous piles of cotton 
bags, (the price of blood,) in northern commercial 
towns, apparently as completely shields the consciences 
of thousands of influential men behind them, from the 
most powerful and self-evident truths and arguments on 
this subject, as did the breastworks of General Jackson, 
of the same material, shield his noble band at New- 
Orleans from the thousand balls of Packingham. But 
more of this hereafter. 

I verily believe that all these sinister interests and pre- 
judices a just God regards with infinite abhorrence, as 
supremely selfish and sinful, when they stand in the way 
of our fulfilling the great golden rule, of doing unto others, 
as we would that others should do unto us, and that if 
we will not surrender them voluntarily upon the common 

9* 






102 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

altar of equal and righteous liberty, for the bond and the 
free, he will soon, in some way that we think not, take 
them from us by his fearful and holy Omnipotence, and 
perhaps leave our whole nation in ruins ; for he is not 
the oppressors' God, but the God of the oppressed, and 
the oppressors' supremely selfish comforts and splen- 
dour wrung from the oppressed, he will detest and turn 
away his face from them forever. The earth is the 
Lord's and all the fullness thereof. 

In what way the Almighty may do this, is not the pro- 
vince of mortals to predict. Suffice it to say, however, 
that he holds the hearts of all men, and the elements of 
Heaven and earth in his hand ; and he can speedily turn 
them whithersoever he will. Does it not become this 
nation to pause, and to consider on its ways 1 

To all human appearance at present, (unless the great 
body of the farmers and mechanics, and all others who are 
disencumbered and independent of these fearfully omin- 
ous and dangerous influences, will look at the condition 
of our country in time, and at once unitedly step forward 
and save it,) all our liberties will soon be subverted and 
drawn into one great common vortex of national slave- 
ry. All this may be adroitly brought about, and still the 
mere form of a free government retained. 

While men are towering and prosperous, they are 
very prone to flatter themselves that their mountain 
stands strong, and that no power can move it. But it 
stands out upon the pages of revelation, as well as upon 
the annals of all time, — both for our warning and for our 
instruction, — that "pride goeth before destruction, and" 
a haughty spirit before a fall." All history and biogra- 
phy have proved this declaration unexceptionably true,. 



ILLUSTRATED, 103 

and as equally applicable to nations as to individuals. 
The wicked are ensnared in the work of their own 
hands. " Though hand join in hand, they shall not go 
unpunished." 

And unless public sentiment at the North can be 
speedily corrected and purified, by a dissemination of 
many important truths among the people, in relation to 
the influence and bearing of the existence of slavery 
upon their own liberties, as well as to apprize them of the 
untold miseries of the enslaved, it is greatly to be feared 
that a kindred portion of the North to the South, will 
unite with Southern influence in finishing the climax of 
ruin to the liberties of the country by the annexation of 
Texas, both as a vast slave mart and as a vast balance 
of Southern slaveholding political power, settled down 
upon all the crushed rights of the people forever. 

Northern liberties would then most assuredly be sacri- 
ficed to Southern slavery ; for slavery would then rule 
the nation, and the North especially, with a rod of iron. 

I know it is said, both by the ignorant as well as by 
the designing, that " you abolition agitators will dissolve 
the Union." But nay — what does the skillful and 
faithful surgeon do, when called to examine a deep, dan- 
gerous, and festering woiuid, which would of itself, if 
let alone, speedily destroy the whole system? Does he 
not at once probe the wound, in this stage of it, to the 
very bottom, in hopes to save the life at least, of the 
suffering patient ? 

Let no friend to humanity and lover of his country 
flatter himself, that the last vestige of slavery in the 
United States* how much soever the just and righteous 
doctrine of unconditional and immediate emancipation 



104 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

be morally enforced, will be the work of a moment ; or 
that it can ever be effected, but by a just, enlightened, 
philanthropic, and patriotic public sentiment through- 
out the North and the South, and the East and the West, 
with the blessing of Heaven superadded. 

Let no abolitionist, in his holy warfare against all 
the dreadful oppressions of his fellow-countrymen, dare 
place his weight upon any other lever, than that which is 
firmly fixed upon all his constitutional and inalienable 
rights, and the eternal and immutable principles of truth. 

If this great constitutional and moral lever, with its 
fulcrum thus placed, cannot overturn the awful Moloch 
of Slavery in our land, it will only prove, that as a 
people, the measure of our iniquity is full, and that we 
are given over to our own destruction, to reap the reward 
of our own doings ; probably by universal anarchy, or by 
absolute slaveholding despotism over us all. When 
we have looked at the numerous unrebuked mobs in 
the land, for the last few years, we have thought the 
former the most probable ; — but when we look at the 
alarming slaveholding and pro-slavery gag-law resolu- 
tions, lately passed in the dark councils of this nation, 
against the freedom of speech and the right of petition, 
the latter, if either be our fcte, would seem nearest. 
Still, in any event, those, and those only will be safe, 
who shall ever be found on the most elevated and holy 
ground, advocating the great, immutable, and eternal 
rights of God and man, for the Lord is a "buckler, 
and a shield to those who walk uprightly." "He 

WILL BE THEIR STRENGTH, AND THEIR VERY PRESENT 
HELP IN TIME OF NEED." 

Indeed, whatever calamity or judgement may fall up- 
on us as a nation, when we consider our long and dread- 



ILLUSTRATED. 105 

ful oppressions of so large a portion of our own unof- 
fending countrymen, what could we say, but that the just, 
but fearful sentiment, " With what measure ye mete, it 
shall be measured to you again," would be but fully 
verified in us. 

11 But let us, as a whole people, put away our abom- 
inations from under the insulted heavens, and we may 
still humbly and safely trust in God, labour to do his 
will, to promote his cause, and fear no danger. 

We must, as a nation, destroy slavery ; or slavery 
will destroy us, as a nation. There can be no alter- 
native ! Then which will we choose, to destroy the 
monster, or to be destroyed by him'? W T ho does not 
know that the plausible pretext, either political or eccle- 
siastical, which tyrants in the world, have ever made for 
muzzling the press and in every way suppressing the 
general diffusion of free principles among the people, 
has always been their heterodox, or their incendiary cha- 
racter 1 Many attempts among the people, at important 
reform in the world, have been checked and put down 
for a time by the cry — incendiary! — or, — heterodoxy !! 
when tyrants held the power, or could make the people 
believe it, and thereby to become directly instrumental 
in the entire subversion of their own liberties. But 
let the truth be told, how much soever it may be con- 
tradicted or perverted, either by ignorant, or by interest- 
ed and designing men. 

Slavery was the beginning of the whole Texan affair. 
And unless the people of the north (for I have little 
hope from southern politicians and slaveholders on this 
subject) will awake in time to their true interests as 
well as that of the nation, slavery will, on a broad scale, 
and having to do with materials of a lighter hue than 



106 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

usual, be the end of it. I am aware that I may be told 
here, that the cupidity of " land sharks " was a cause 
anterior to this. But let it ever be remembered, that 

• 

those who would steal a province from Mexico are 
still unwilling to possess it, unless they can be privi- 
leged with stealing men also from Africa or from the 
United States to cultivate the stolen province for them, 
that they may themselves riot in ease and luxury. And 
they have the effrontery, too, to ask the high sanction 
of this nation to all this, and propose that the good 
people of this whole amalgamated Union may partici- 
pate in the booty. 

And what have these freebooters had the audacity, 
before the world, to ask us to do, as a nation ? Why ! 
nothing less than to become a partner with them in 
wresting, by stealth, a vast and valuable province from 
our neighbouring nation, who has internal troubles 
enough of her own already, and with whom, by sacred 
treaty before the nations and before Heaven, we are 
under the highest and the most solemn obligations to 
live in amity and to cultivate peace, and to extend to 
her a moral instead of an immoral influence. But this 
proposed partnership is not to stop here, but must ex- 
tend to the rendering of this ill-gotten possession into a 
vast aceldama of human misery and blood. We are 
to become, as a nation, instrumental in extending the 
chains of slavery, perhaps for ever, where it does not 
now exist, and thus to give it a new and a powerful im- 
pulse through the states, where its end seemed to be 
drawing nigh. 

We are thus, as a nation too, to be made to give a 
most powerful impetus, both to the foreign and to the 



ILLUSTRATED. 107 

domestic traffic in our own flesh and blood. 0, for 
the memory of the illustrious dead ! for our country's 
honour ! for the sake of our children and posterity, the 
down-trodden millions, and the world, may a righteous 
Heaven forbid it! 

Texas was settled principally by southern men, many 
of whom were deeply interested in slavery ; and we 
heard of no uneasiness or disposition among them to 
revolt until Mexico, probably actuated by her free prin- 
ciples, which effected her own independence in hej* 
liberation from Spain, set all her slaves at liberty. 
This, of course, embraced the eight thousand slaves 
held by the Texans. And do we then hear that the 
slaves abused their freedom, by turning about and mas- 
sacreing all their masters ? No ! although they owed 
their liberation to no good will of theirs. 

This whole Texan business is all perfectly under- 
stood in the British parliament as being wholly a slave- 
holding concern ; and a motion was made in that body, 
in the winter of 1837, to call for the documents relative 
to all the negotiations with the United States and Mex- 
ico on this subject. The motion was lost by thirteen 
votes only, on the ground alone that it was premature, 
founded in the confidence that the American Congress, 
then in session, would be influenced by that part of the 
President's message recommending no hasty acknow- 
ledgement of the independence of Texas. This rash 
act of Congress, under all the peculiar circumstances, 
was as shocking to the moral world as it was unex- 
pected. But it is only an additional evidence of the 
all-powerful and controlling slaveholding influence in 
this nation. 



108 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

The whole Texan subject, in all its relations, and the 
course which this government has pursued towards that 
revolted province of Mexico, and also to Mexico itself, 
will unquestionably undergo a strict and jealous investi- 
gation in the British parliament at no very distant period ; 
for every member in that house, without an exception, 
who spoke on that subject, entered his most decided 
and solemn protest to Texas ever being annexed to the 
United States as a slave country. On such an event 
England would probably shake hands with Mexico, un- 
less pacified with a fair portion of our northern domain, 
as a kind of set-off for our unwarrantable encroachments 
upon the rights of a third power to maintain our slavery. 

France, too, might not be an idle spectator upon such 
a scene ; for she, too, would have conflicting interests. 
The relative location of Texas to the colonies of Great 
Britain on this continent, aside from the deep abhor- 
rence of slavery among her people, would of itself be 
sufficient to induce her interference, But all these, 
and other causes, would combine to render her hostile 
to such an outrage upon the self-evident rights of so 
large a portion of the human family. 

It may be asked, what right has Great Britain to in- 
terfere in our affairs ? I answer, she has an unquestion- 
able moral right to interfere (if this can be called inter- 
ference), in the free expression of her opinions, as all 
nations and all individuals have, and by right ought to 
have, forever. Great Britain, moreover, has a po- 
litical right to say something in this matter, not only 
because it might endanger the liberties of her contig- 
uous emancipated islands, but, more expressly by vir- 
tue of the 10th article of the treaty of Ghent, whether 



ILLUSTRATED. 109 

known to all Americans or not, it would doubtless be 
remembered by England and by the civilized world, 
should a crisis arrive which would call it up before their 
gaze, to our great national shame ! It would then be 
distinctly seen by the nations, that while the genius of 
American editors, on the one hand, had been prolific in 
manufacturing high- wrought encomiums upon their own 
country, often emphatically and boastj'ulhj styling it " the 
asylum of the oppressed, where every man is his own 
master;" and on the other, that their presses had teemed 
with articles aiming at the discredit of the English go- 
vernment, while that government, with all its wrongs, is 
still very far ahead of ours in the great cause of eman- 
cipation. Yet there are those among us who seem to 
think it still becomes the American press to denounce 
abolitionists; and, directly or indirectly, to advocate 
slavery ; and thunder all its anathemas against the com- 
paratively light oppressions of some foreign powers. 
The exact words of the treaty alluded to are the fol- 
lowing : — 

" ARTICLE TENTH. 

" Whereas the traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with 
the principles of humanity and justice ; and whereas both 
his majesty and the United States are desirous of con- 
tinuing their efforts to promote its entire abolition ; it is 
therefore agreed, that both the contracting parties shall 
use their best endeavours to accomplish so desirable an 
object." 

As an indication of the present state of feeling among 
the people of Great Britain on the subject of slavery, 
Lord Brougham has just given notice of his intention 
to move, in the house of peers, a series of resolutions 

10 



110 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

pledging the government to a more active suppression 
of the slave traffic. One of these resolutions is to the 
effect, that her majesty be requested to take immediate 
measures to obtain the concurrence of the United States 
in negotiations, with a view to declare the traffic in 
slaves, piracy. 

How does this appear alongside of Calhoun's and 
Patton's resolutions, just passed in the Congress of the 
United States by overwhelming majorities, not to sup- 
press the dreadful slave traffic in our country, at which 
the civilized country revolts, but to suppress the right of 
speech, and the right of petition of American citizens, 
on the whole subject of American slavery, even in the 
District of Columbia and the territories, and on the re- 
jection of Texas as a slave state ? Who must not hear, 
in all this, our expiring constitution shrieking for help ? 

Did American politicians violate our sacredly plighted 
national faith with Great Britain before Heaven and 
earth, when, after indirectly aiding Texas in its revolt 
from Mexico, next very hastily to acknowledge its inde- 
pendence, preparatory, if possible, to its speedy admis- 
sion into the Union as a vast slave market? Did our 
recreant politicians in Congress violate this solemn 
treaty on human liberty in the winter of 1838, when 
they passed resolutions to trample upon the people's 
petitions to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia? 
Did the nation, or did they not, violate this treaty when 
they elected their President on his bold and unheard-of 
declaration to the world, that, if elected, he should, on 
the ground of " expediency," (that is, to disregard 
northern views, and humbly bow in reverence to the 
great slaveholding interest,) veto any bill for the 

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THEDlSTRICT OF COLUMBIA'? 



ILLUSTRATED. HI 

While I have spoken thus plainly upon what I greatly 
regret, and consider altogether unwarrantable, in our 
present chief magistrate, to make himself President of 
the United States, let me not be thought in this matter 
as acting in the least from party considerations, either 
in favour or against the present administration ; for I just 
as freely give it as my opinion, that such is the slave- 
holding power in this nation at present, that to my mind 
it remains in great doubt, whether, if not Mr. Van Buren, 
some other candidate for the Presidency, may not yet go 
much farther, in loading the oppressed with still heavier 
chains, and in compromising the liberties of the nomin- 
ally free to slaveholders, to exalt himself to power. But 
I envy not that man, whoever he might be, either his 
honour or his peace. 

It remains to be seen, whether the people can yet be 
so far deluded by the vain cry of" Union," as to con- 
sent to have themselves, their posterity, Union and all, 
fully mortgaged forever to slaveholders by " gambling 
politicians." 

It should be known, that " Union " would be the 
watchword from ambitious politicians seeking promo- 
tion from slaveholders, until the very chains of the co- 
loured man are fully riveted upon white men. Ambi- 
tious and artful politicians, in all countries, have thus 
deceived the people, and sported with their liberties, 
adroitly holding up before their eyes some prominent 
object of their greatest attachment, and in this way 
" keeping flattering promises good to the ear, but break- 
ing them to their hope." Demagogues care little for 
colour, if they can but accomplish their ambitious de- 
signs. 



112 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

While the vast slaveholding power remains upon this 
nation, the road to the Presidential chair must necessarily 
be a crooked, a dishonest, and a dishonourable one ; and 
the chair itself consequently dishonoured with a dishon- 
ourable occupant. My meaning is, that while the slave- 
holders are constantly making demands of the north, so 
dishonourable both to the north, the south, and the na- 
tion, that the people must surrender their right of speech 
and petition to support slavery, that I do not see how 
any honest or honourable man can be President of this 
amalgamated slaveholding and non-slavehold- 
ing Union. 

I hope and believe, that all true abolitionists, at least, 
who feel for the millions of our countrymen in bonds, 
and who know that the liberties also of the whole nation, 
bond and free, are far more involved in the slavery and 
the anti-slavery subjects, than in the sub-treasury or anti- 
sub-treasury, bank or anti-bank questions of the day, will 
be watchful that they be not themselves sold into the po- 
litical shambles. 

The people should always, by all means, well know, 
to whom they give their suffrages. 

If we cannot exercise the elective franchise in favour 
of rational liberty for ourselves, at least, (if not to say in 
behalf of the liberties of our coloured countrymen also,) 
we had far better remain at our farms, our shops, and 
our merchandise, than to go to the polls to vote away 
our own liberties. 

The plea that one candidate for office is a better man 
than another, while he is known to be deadly hostile to 
rational and equal liberty for all mankind, is a vain and 
deceptive one. 



ILLUSTRATED. 113 

Calhoun and Patton say, by their most contemptible 
resolutions, let us choke these fanatical abolitionists, 
so that they can neither petition, speak, nor hardly 
breathe. " No ! no !" says the politest man of CLAY ; 
" if you take this very rash course, Mr. Calhoun, you 
will certainly make abolitionists of the north to a man. 
My method, Mr. Calhoun," continues this more in- 
sinuating gentleman, " is to treat this * delicate ' busi- 
ness very gentle and easy, and in some way or other 
just slily fence out these fanatics from among our 
friends at the north, lest they sow the seeds of truth 
among them, and thereby cause discord in our northern 
pro-slavery ranks. It must be done, Mr. Calhoun," 
says this same polite and experienced Senator, " in some 
unaccountable way, — so adroitly as not to 'produce 
agitation ;' so that the people generally would not even 
mistrust, that when we get Texas added to our power, 
we shall then soon serve them all according to your no- 
tion of dealing with agitators, and all the labouring class 
of human property, which, when suffered to run at large 
without drivers, are so annoying and so troublesome to 
slaveholders at the south, and to capitalists and to all 
aristocrats at the north." — "Be gentle, Mr. Calhoun," 
says this skilful man, " and you may even lead an ele- 
phant by a hair." 

Now, northern men called free, who are willing still 
to be duped and served up either by Calhoun's broad 
carving-knife, or Clay's keen razor, are, of course, at 
liberty to submit themselves to these skilful operators ; 
but if they do, a wo will doubtless fall upon them and 
their country : for, let us not be deceived, the issue is 
joined^ — there can be no alternative : Slavery for all, 

10* 



114 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

or freedom for all in this nation, is near at hand and 
inevitable. Nothing will have power in this trying crisis 
to cheat the people out of their liberties, except, per- 
chance, that charming and magic sound " Union," which 
may be like the ignis fatwus, or the syren song. 

Should it prove that the people shall think more even 
of the " Union," than they do of the inalienable rights 
of conscience and the freedom of opinion, the funeral 
knell of their liberties will be tolled, if they still possessed 
a " Union " of territory as vast as creation. 

The Hon. John Quincy Adams, in his speech on the 
Texan and Indian wars, remarked, " that if we would 
wage war to handcuff and fetter our fellow-men, Great 
Britain would wage war against us to break their chains. 
And what a figure should we make in the eyes of all 
mankind," said our venerable ex-President, " in deadly 
conflict with Great Britain ; she fighting the battles of 
emancipation and freedom, and we the battles of sla- 
ver y : — s he the benefactress, and we the oppressor of 

mankind"?" 

This disposition to extend the dark dominions of sla- 
very as an institution, or engine of despotical political 
power, at a vast sacrifice of human freedom, both for 
the enslaved and the free, is the only cause of the com- 
motion of these variously contending elements. Must 
we not see, then, the dangers which slavery exposes us 
to, both at home and from abroad. And who that loves 
his country, and sees this, will not raise the warning 
voice, — sound the note of alarm ! — and use, at least, his 
"ounce" of timely prevention before it be forever too late? 
When we see certain ruin approaching us, unless time- 
ly averted, although we may think it at some distance 



ILLUSTRATED. 115 

from us, shall we, like one who " should hold a penny 
so near his eye that he could not see a dollar across the 
house," either sit down in perfect apathy, or in vainly 
triumphing in our security, crying, " peace, peace ; and 
still folding our arms to rest?" 

All admit that the horrid monster ' slavery ' must ere 
long be met ; but many yet cower and shrink away, and 
dread to grapple with him. 

The subject of Texas being connected as it is, so 
entirely with the great interests of southern slavery, is 
rapidly and most fearfully assuming an alarming aspect 
,to the friends of freedom. Be it remembered, that a 
dead calm often immediately precedes the hurricane, or 
the earthquake. 

The abhorrence to the foreign slave traffic so adroitly 
exhibited in the Texan constitution, commends itself as 
was designed, to the cupidity of the whole southern 
slavery interest. It was virtually saying to all the 
southern growers and sellers of the souls and bodies of 
men for " filthy lucre's sake," we greatly need and must 
have your aid to sustain us against our legitimate go- 
vernment, " Mexico." Extend a helping hand now, in 
this our time of greatest need, and by our constitution we 
will swear allegiance to your slave interest forever ; that 
is, that we will utterly refuse to bring any human beings 
that may be brought to us by water from Africa, but will 
buy at a good price all the droves of " human cattle " 
from Virginia, Maryland, DISTRICT OF CO- 
LUMBIA, &c. &c. 

This is the plain English of the Texan constitution, 
with which she and her southern confederates, and I 
fear a few northern ones, are most earnestly, but at pre- 



116 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

sent somewhat covertly (until the project shall be fully 
matured for a bold and open execution,) seeking and 
pressing her admission into this Union, contrary to the 
constitution and the laws of nations ; and calling upon 
northern freemen to lend themselves to help on this ne- 
farious business of making merchandise of their fellow- 
men, and thus to effect the enslavement and ruin of 
others not only, but of themselves and of their whole 
country also. 

It speaks volumes to northern ears, and " he that hath 
an ear to hear, will he not hear 1" 

Many of the disaffected and unrighteously revolting 
Texans, being originally a part of a slaveholding com- 
munity, and understanding well its " peculiar institu- 
tions," knew precisely what strings of interested sym- 
pathy to play upon, to produce a harmonious southern 
response. But it is not greatly to be hoped that such 
music of chains and shackles upon innocent men and 
women will not much longer sound very delightful to 
ears north of Mason and Dixon's line ; that is, that men 
who boast of living in nominally free states, would act 
like freemen indeed, and testify loudly and in earnest 
against the cruel enslavement of their fellow-men, es- 
pecially in their own country and before their own eyes. 

In truth, the southern prints, for years before the Tex- 
an revolt, had been at times indirectly discussing the 
feasibility, and also the immense southern advantage 
which would result from such a measure. Says Dr. 
Channing in his late letter to Henry Clay, " slavery and 
fraud lay at the very foundation of the Texan revolt ;" 
and continues this man with the mind of an elightened 
statesman, and the heart of a disinterested patriot and 



ILLUSTRATED. 117 

philanthropist, the cause and the motives which led to 
this revolt, were so notorious, that it is wonderful that 
any among us " could have been cheated into sympathy 
for the Texan cause, as the cause of freedom." And who 
cannot see now, since the first Texan draught upon our 
unintelligible sympathies, has by us been honoured, and 
our first impulses of interest has measurably subsided, 
that it is indeed notorious, as this celebrated man justly 
remarks, that land speculators, slaveholders, and selfish 
adventurers, were among the foremost to engage in the 
crusade for Texan liberties ; and from the hands of 
these he continues, we are invited to receive a province, 
torn from a country to which we have given pledges of 
amity and peace. The argument that the Texans had 
sufficient cause to revolt on account of the Catholic re- 
ligion of the Mexican empire, amounts to just this ; 
that a few Americans, for example, well knowing be- 
forehand the religion of England, would be justifiable 
to settle in some part of the British dominions, and im- 
mediately revolt on account of what they well knew 
existed before they became citizens of the country. 
Would not this be, for example, too much like Catho- 
lics or any other people coming into our country, and 
knowing our institutions before they came, but the mo- 
ment they become citizens, revolt on account of them 1 
Not only this, but it is not so in point of fact, that the 
religion of the country, was the moving cause of the 
famous Texan revolt, for the contrary of this can be 
most abundantly proved. The religion of the country 
is now well known to have had little or nothing to do 
with the Texan revolt ; but the reasons, as before stated, 
are now seldom attempted to be controverted. 



118 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

And is it not to be feared, that unless the north can be 
made to see her true interests in time as well as that 
of the whole nation, and speak out with a voice that 
shall make demagogues and tyrants tremble, that there 
will be those at the north with an object still to suc- 
cumb to southern slavery interest, to secure southern 
favour for their own private advantage and power, by 
lending their influence to the south, to give this stolen 
Mexican province admission into our Union, for the 
special benefit of slaveholders and land speculators, 
and thereby deliberately and sacrilegiously sell the liber- 
ties of the north into the hands of southern slave- 
holders ? 

It has been openly said even by some at the north, 
that Texas must be annexed to the Union, to throw the 
balance of power into the hands of slaveholders, to put 
down abolitionists, and thus make an end of mobs. 

What independent American citizens, being lovers of 
that free government by the people for which their 
fathers bled and died, must not behold with pain and 
alarm the ominous and fearful signs of the times, when 
some prominent northern divines and politicians are 
already openly and publicly advocating a despotic go- 
vernment as they pretend, as the only remedy for mobs? 
A pretty remedy this for mobs ! ! Who does not know 
that a mixed government, partly free, and partly despotic, 
is always composed of the form of free government, 
with the frequent outbreakings of uncontrolled and un- 
punished small mobs; but that a purely despotic govern- 
ment, which I greatly fear the immense slaveholding 
interest is rapidly plunging this nation into, to maintain 
its despotic power, is composed of one vast and irresis- 



ILLUSTRATED. 119 

tible mob continually and wantonly outraging all the 
rights of man at its pleasure, when there is none to de- 
liver ! 

Says that able and indefatigable champion of human 
rights, William Goodell, Esq. on this subject, " true 
democracy and mobocracy, are opposites, and cannot 
exist together. That all who favour mobs (however 
democratic in their professions,) will ultimately throw 
their influence on the side of " despotic governments." 
That every apologist of slavery is on the side of des- 
potic power, and is highly gratified to witness its strides 
over the constitution and the laws of a free people. 
That those who care nothing for the liberty of south- 
ern slaves, care nothing for the liberty of northern free- 
men. That mobs, and slavery, and despotic govern- 
ments, are children of the same parent ; and that those 
who favour the one, will also favour the other. That 
the supremacy of the laws, the liberty of the free, and 
the emancipation of the enslaved, are confederated and 
identical interests, which must triumph together, or be 
buried in one common grave ! That all true republicans 
must be active abolitionists, — and finally, that the pre- 
servation of our country from " despotic government," 
can only be secured by the steady and persevering sup- 
port of " the anti-slavery enterprise." 

Let the people carefully watch the movements of pub- 
lic men, and listen to the tone of the public press, and 
see if dark and insidious preparations are not most 
adroitly being made to harden the heart of this nation 
systematically to sustain, and if possible forever to set- 
tle down upon us the despotic power of slavery, and then 
judge whether the above fearful predictions may not 



120 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

verily prove too true. And the captivating pretext for 
all this, will be the preservation of the Union, which we 
should all idolize, but on conditions only that it can be 
sustained in connexion with rational liberty for all. 
That liberty for which our fathers fought and bled ; that 
liberty, too, for which a SAVIOUR suffered and died. 
However this dreadful traffic in human flesh and 
human souls may appear to us, it is entered into by 
men who have become inured to it, both for pecuniary 
and for political purposes, in as cool blood and with as 
much foresight and deliberation, as we would look for a 
market for our cattle, or for any other articles of traf- 
fic. But the very climax of iniquity and treachery in 
all this is, that one freeman is found aiding in selling 
other freemen by the wholesale. ! who cannot blush 
at this ! " and hang his head to think himself a manl" 
Still there are beings bearing the " external " forms of 
men, who would have the hardihood and effrontery to 
call such a MAN a ' fanatic' But be it remembered, 
this is all done to maintain tyrannical power over the 
people. 

I am, indeed, entirely unable to conceive how any one 
short of imbibing the idea that man is on a level with 
the brute, can for a moment, give even his passive or 
negative assent to the horrid business of enslaving his 
fellow-man, and bartering him, both by wholesale and 
retail, like beasts of burden, upon any pretext of such 
shocking and revolting expediency whatever. And after 
imbibing this most debasing doctrine to human beings, 
that " immortal " man is, indeed, on a level with the 
beasts of the field, " that tend downward and perish," it 
would still be abhorrent to all the moral sense of our 



ILLUSTRATED. 121 

natures, to behold any rank or order of beings with no 
provocation, " deliberately and wantonly worrying and 
devouring each other," or for * filthy lucre's sake,' 
cruelly trafficking in its own species. Even sharks and 
tigers do not do this ! 

The whole institution of slavery, at the South, is 
principally sustained by four classes of interested men, 
viz : ' the slave growers ;' the ' slave-sellers ;' the ' slave- 
buyers ,' at the far South and Southwest ; and most of 
all, and " most to be deplored," by political demagogues, 
who are aiming to extend and perpetuate the despotic 
system of slavery, with all its tyranny and moral abom- 
inations, and great and unequal advantages of represen- 
tation, as a means of permanent and political ascenden- 
cy over the North. 

Slaveholders have always used every art to frighten 
the North into servile compliance ; but they never intend 
to leave the Union, so long as they already have the 
Union in their hands ; and by the grateful help of 
kindred spirits at the North, (with their motto, " Love 
of Union, run up at mast-head,") are still grasping it 
firmer and firmer, into their own tyrannical power. 
Says the northern aristocrat (and slaveholder's 
abettor,) to northern freemen, "give up your right of 
speech, and your right of petition, to slaveholders, for 
the great love which you have for the Union." This 
has ever been the cry, and will be, if slavery con- 
tinues, until the very chains on two and a half millions 
of our countrymen, are clanking at our own heels. This 
may seem visionary to some ; but let it be remembered, 
that despotism has always insidiously stolen upon the 
people, like a thief in the night. 

11 



122 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

That no people was ever reduced, at once, from a 
state of rational freedom, or just and equal rights, to a 
state of entire subserviency and vassalage to tyrants ; 
and that the liberties of a people have ever been most 
endangered when the mass least suspected it : even as 
the stupor or the calmness of easy repose has often im- 
mediately preceded the near approach of the " grim mon- 
ster," death ! 



SECTION III. 

** I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE IT MAKES AN EXCITEMENT." 

Would it not be surprising if this objection should 
have the least weight with any, except persons with ex- 
tremely weak nerves? — For all history shows us that 
no great and valuable reformation, either moral or po- 
litical, was ever accomplished in the world, without more 
or less agitation and excitement. I mean a manly, 
and not a brutal excitement. This is but the very 
natural result, arising from the adverse and opposing in- 
terests and influences it meets in its progress. Some 
persons, however, appear to be very " delicately strung" 
on some subjects — with nerves of brass on others. 
People's liking or disliking excitement, depends alto- 
gether on circumstances. Indeed, the principles of 
human nature, and the very complex fabric of human 
society, would at once seem to render all this jarring of 
adverse elements, to an intelligent mind, a matter of no 
surprise. 

Reform of no kind, in any age of the world, was ever 
carried forward without opposing the appetites or pas- 
sions, the interests or prejudices of men, in every step 
that was taken. There is, indeed, a natural and a 
moral impossibility, that any valuable reformation can be 
effected without it. We might as well expect torrents 
of rain to come down out of a clear sky. Look, for ex- 
ample, at the temperance reform in our land. Has 



124 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

there not been more or less excitement, at times, ever 
since its first commencement, for the reasons just men- 
tioned 1 You may say, "perhaps not as great as on the 
subject of slavery." I answer, that the evils of intem- 
perance in our land, as great as they are, or have been, 
bear little comparison to my apprehension to the pre- 
sent, and still less to the prospective evils of slavery. 
Intemperance, though a gangrene upon the body politic, 
has never so entirely entwined itself around all our in- 
stitutions, anaconda like, North and South, and bound 
us, as it were, for the executioner ; and thereby, so great- 
ly endangered all our liberties, as has the institution of 
slavery in our country. In their moral turpitude, intem- 
perance to slaveholding, bears about the same relation 
as suicide does to murder. 

But now let us consider, a moment, the cause of ex- 
citements, and endeavour to see where the blame lies, 
whenever there is any blame to be attached to anv one. 
I am fully aware, for instance, that it is tauntingly said 
by some, that abolitionists have been the cause of ail the 
excitement and outrages growing out of it, which have, 
of late, so greatly disgraced our land. Now grant all 
that the accuser would ask, that it is even so ! What 
then? Let us inquire a moment, who has been 
the lawful, constitutional, and innocent cause ; and who 
the unlawful, and unconstitutional, and guilty cause. 
Every body now grants, (except slaveholding and pro- 
slavery politicians, or otherwise interested people,) that 
abolitionists, in all their proceedings, have kept within 
the laws and the constitution. The very fact, that reck- 
less mobocrats have resorted to unlawful and violent 
means to put down abolitionists, and thereby prevent 



ILLUSTRATED. 125 

the discussion of slavery, is of itself" prima facia" evi- 
dence that all such mobocrats were conscious that they 
possessed no lawful or constitutional means whatever, of 
accomplishing their direful purposes. The truth is, that 
that great principle of the American constitution, that 
every human being is possessed of an inborn right to 
think and speak his sentiments freely, — which no hu- 
man power gave, or can take away, — stands out in 
" bold relief," above all other principles ; and is also im- 
pressed with indelible and self-evident testimony, upon 
the heart and the conscience of every man. It is there, 
as written in a sun-beam with the point of a diamond, 
and every man does violence to his very nature, who 
even attempts to erase it, or deny it. He might as well 
attempt to annihilate his very being. It was identified 
with the constitution of man, by the hand of his Maker ; 
and what God hath joined together, let no man profanely 
and tyrannically attempt to sunder. At the time of the 
preaching of Christ and the apostles, there was at times, 
great excitement. When Demetrius, the silver-smith, 
assembled his craft, and proclaimed to them that their 
business was endangered by the preaching of Paul, was 
there not excitement? 

But suppose it be said that reformers themselves, as 
well as their opposers, are sometimes excited : what 
then 1 If those who set themselves up to be reformers 
should ever be excited to be guilty of acts of lawless 
violence, this indeed, would be greatly to be lamented, 
and utterly to be deprecated by all good men. And all 
who should be actuated by any such spirit, would have 
great reason to doubt either the justness of their cause, 
or whether they were fit instruments to accomplish the 

11* 



126 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

work. The only weapons in reform should be "light 
and love ;" and even these never should be unlawfully 
wielded. This, however, never can impair that great 
first principle of a right of self-defence from lawless ag- 
gressions. The right, however, I think, should never 
be exercised except in extreme and aggravated cases, 
for it is certainly better to suffer wrong than to do 
wrong, and we may undoubtedly do wrong even in the 
exercise of this high and most sacred right. It must, 
after all, be a question between ourselves, our Maker, 
and our country. Here we are compelled to leave it r 
for no definite or invariable cases can perhaps well be 
prescribed. We must learn wisdom from experience, 
and from our friends and our foes. We know that our 
enemies, led on by the famous Captain Lynch, rudely 
assailed us with the ignoble weapons of stones ? 
brick-bats, &c. ; nay ! even with more deadly weapons ; 
but being sorely pierced by the arrows of truth, they 
have fled in confusion, and are now sullenly " beating 
the bush." And unless we can draw them out into a 
general engagement, into an "open field fight" to con- 
tend with us manfully in honourable warfare, it is to be 
feared they may yet rally their brute force, and by sur- 
prise, surround us and vanquish us. Let us therefore^ 
induce them if possible, to come out and measure 
swords of truth and argument with us, pledging our- 
selves to them, that by these weapons alone we shall 
stand, or by these alone we shall fall. Truth and love 
shall still be inscribed on our banner, but this banner, as 
the last hope of freedom, both for " the bond and the 
free," must still and forever fearlessly wave over the 
soil of the brave sons of Columbia, while all who rally 



ILLUSTRATED. 127 

around its standard, must look up with confidence to 
the God of the oppressed, and to the God of holy free- 
dom for its ultimate triumphant success, as in the late 
dreadful treagedy at Alton, Illinois, when that martyr to 
truth, to liberty, and his country, fell, by base and mur- 
derous hands, while acting in every sense according to 
the great lawful and constitutional principle of self-de- 
fence, (the existence of which principle, no man dis- 
putes, who thinks it right to sustain civil government by 
physical means.) 

The position of defence is considered, however, by 
many abolitionists, on the part of Lovejoy and his asso- 
ciates, practically to have been a departure from primi- 
tive abolition principles, as adopted by the American 
Anti-Slavery Society ; but these principles are only, 
that they would not encourage the oppressed to gain 
their liberty by physical force. Anti-slavery men, as a 
body, have never compromised their own liberties. 
Abolitionists, on the extreme point of acting in defence 
of their own rights, as on other subjects, probably may 
differ somewhat among themselves. Those who have 
adopted the peace principles fully, I believe, think it 
morally right in no case whatever to use carnal weapons,, 
even in self-defence. Others think that such weapons 
belong only to the civil magistrate. But this does not 
alter the fact that Lovejoy was most emphatically sacri- 
ficed a martyr by bloody hands for the great cause of 
freedom and his country. The enemies of freedom 
will persecute her friends, whatever principle they may 
act upon. Had he saved his life at this time by flight, 
as he previously had done in a number of instances, his 
mean mobocratic enemies would have readily called him 



128 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

a coward, and at once proclaimed him recreant to his 
cause and his country. Had he died with a pen in his 
hand, instead of a gun, the enemies of rational and con- 
stitutional liberty would still have profanely said, as they 
had already even dared to do, " that he died as the fool 
dieth." " John came neither eating nor drinking, and 
they said he hath a devil." " The Son of Man came 
eating and drinking, and they said, behold a man glut- 
tonous, and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sin- 
ners." Query. " If we shall say from heaven : he will 
say, why then did ye not believe in him? But if we 
shall say of men, they feared the people : for all men 
counted John that he was a prophet indeed." 

I noticed a sentence in a pro-slavery journal, severely 
condemnatory of the course of this martyr, for the op- 
pressed, and for the dearest rights of his countrymen. 
It was in these words : "Like many other partially con- 
verted men, Mr. Lovejoy saw the evil of slavery ; but 
when the spirit led him to the cross, he stumbled and 
fell :" whether it be right in any possible case to resort 
to physical means for self-defence, is not here the ques- 
tion at issue. One thing is certain, that if it be justifi- 
able at all, it is equally so for one as for another, whether 
ministers, laymen, or neither. Another fact is equally 
self-evident, which is, that the cause in which Lovejoy 
" stumbled and fell" is a cause as much higher and 
holier than even that in which so many of our dear 
fathers, like Lovejoy, " stumbled, bled, and fell," to give 
us their sons liberty, as the cruel iron of oppression is 
sunk deeper into the souls of two and a half millions of 
our enslaved and suffering countrymen, than it was into 
theirs. What honest man in his senses can deny this 



ILLUSTRATED. 129 

to be a fair inference? And as it regards the unkind 
reference to the dead, as in the words " partially con- 
verted." May heaven save the nation from any kind 
of full conversion, that would make us love slavery ; or 
rather not to hate it, in the same holv sense that David 
did the wicked, with a perfect hatred. But may it be 
remembered, that the answer to the enigma of this kind 
of hatred, is " Love to God supreme, to man universal." 
The principle couched in that invidious language, 
"that Lovejoy died as the fool dieth," is'plainly this, 
that an unprincipled and infuriated mob, whether sober 
or intoxicated, it matters not, if they happen to make up 
the majority of their community for the moment, whether 
that community be a city, a village, or a neighbourhood, 
have a perfect right to trample all written laws and con- 
stitutions under their riotous feet, and at once sacrifice 
property, life, and all before them, to gratify their hea- 
ven-daring malice. If this mobocratic principle, which 
is but the very essence and spirit of slaveholding, lynch- 
ing, duelling, &c, could once fully obtain the ascendency 
in the public mind, there would at once forever be an end 
to all order and security for property, for liberty, or for 
life ; for the written constitution and all the statute laws 
of the land, would then no longer be better than blank 
paper. They would then, indeed, be held up as beacons 
only, to invite to blood and crime. Mob law wouldthen 
become the order of the day. As to excitement or zeal, 
which shall be according to knowledge, in a good cause, 
we all know it to be not only sanctioned, but encouraged 
in the Scriptures. It is also indispensable in effecting 
any valuable reformation in the world. Indeed, we all 
generally question the sincerity of men espousing any 



130 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

cause, if they manifest no zeal in it ; and such seldom 
gain a hearing. And how can men expect others to feel 
an interest in a cause in which its professed advocates 
or adherents manifest no interest in themselves. Lead- 
ing politicans call upon all their followers to do with 
their might what their hands find to do, and why not phi- 
lanthropists and Christians'? If men, in promoting a 
good cause, pursue their object zealously and persever- 
ingly, but peacefully and lawfully, and such proceedings 
call forth excited, ill-tempered, and sometimes violent 
and lawless opposition, who can be justly chargeable 
with improper excitement 1 If we say the former, then 
surely our Saviour himself, and all his apostles, might 
justly have been often arraigned before the bar of 
Caesar. 

The time has already arrived in our country, when 
some " gentlemen of property and of standing ," who 
were once found actually engaged to accomplish their 
sinister ends, in opposing and abusing by violence the 
friends of constitutional freedom and free discussion, are 
now, no doubt, " ashamed of it," and wish they had been 
otherwise, and more honourably and usefully employed, 
for their own credit, and for the honour and welfare of 
their country. 

And the time cannot be far distant, unless freedom in 
our beloved land is destined to be cloven down, and our 
liberties entirely subverted, and aristocracy and despo- 
tism to reign triumphant, when those houses at the north, 
which continue much longer to be bolted and barred by 
slaveholding abettors, against the bleeding cause, and 
the claims of suffering humanity, will probably be re- 
garded in history, in a light somewhat as were those that 



ILLUSTRATED. 131 

Were closed against our revolutionary fathers, while so 
nobly contending for their rights, their liberties, and for 
the independence of our common country. " These 
things are not now seen, but the end is not yet." Now, 
if the opposers of the cause, and the hosts of apathetic 
neutrals, are indeed at heart, what they say they are, 
opposed to slavery, why will they not, in some way, 
manifest their abhorrence to it, in a manner that shall 
tell upon the hearts and the consciences of slaveholders ? 
And what are we most painfully ©ompelled to conclude 
if they will not do it? If ye are not for me, ye are 
against me, saith the Saviour of the world. Southern 
politicians, while trampling on our petitions, claim, as a 
reason, that the north are not opposed to slavery, and 
northern politicians, as well as some who lay claim to a 
a more sacred name, practically respond, Amen ! 

We often hear it adduced as a reason why nothing 
should be said or done on the subject of slavery in our 
country, because it is an exciting subject ; whereas, of 
all reasons conceivable, this very reason is the most 
powerful one, why we should both say and do much on 
the subject. What ! shall I be gravely told that I must 
neither say nor do any thing to rescue my brother in the 
last struggle of sinking into a watery grave, because it 
is an exciting subject, and I shall alarm the people ? 
Am I to be told, in cool blood, to hush up ! when I at- 
tempt to cry fire ! — when my wife, my children, my all, 
are just to be enveloped by the devouring flames? 

Had the wife and the children, in " fond expectancy," 
around the dear iireside of the late lamented Mr. Ly- 
man, recently so basely murdered in Rochester in sight 
of his own door, discovered, in time, the cold-blooded 



132 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

and fiend-like destroyer lurking behind his ill-fated vic- 
tim, under cover of darkness, with the instrument of 
instant death in his hand, — they must give no alarm 
for fear of excitement ! Or, could the now disconsolate 
and widowed wives, and the dear orphaned children of 
the recently murdered Cilley and Lovejoy, have inter- 
posed the affectionate hand just in time to ward off the 
deadly shaft of the assassin, when pointed at the heart 
of their beloved husbands and fathers, they should not 
have done so for fear of excitement 1 I have not cou- 
pled these two cases of shocking murder because I 
thought them parallel, for indeed I consider them far 
otherwise ; but still slavery, with its legitimate spirit 
and influence, caused the untimely death of both of 
these highly valuable American citizens. By a some- 
what remarkable coincidence, Maine has first been 
called to make the sacrifice of her two sons upon the 
bloody altar of slavery. The demon code of slavery 
slew one by the hand of the vile rabble, the other by the 
hand of the " vile gentleman." They were both slain 
by base assassinators, of different grades only, for " words 
spoken in debate." If law-makers will not sacredly pro- 
tect the lives of all the subjects of law while in the ex- 
ercise of constitutional rights, what can they expect but 
themselves to fall, in their turn, by lawless and bloody 
hands ? 

The truth is, that our Creator has wisely and benefi- 
cently endowed us all with natures, capable of sympathy 
or excitement, for the most valuable and benevolent ends, 
to prompt us to effect our own, and one another's safety 
and welfare, by every just and righteous means. Some 
who talk about excitement, seem to speak of it as a kind 



ILLUSTRATED. 133 

of monster in human nature. The very fact, that the 
subject of slavery is so exciting, is at once proof posi- 
tive, that the happiness, the liberty, and the lives, not of 
one or two only, but of millions of our fellow-beings, 
are every moment imminently jeoparded by it. 

Why was the cause so exciting which prompted the 
magnanimous spirits of the Revolution to arise to action 
almost as one man? Was it not that liberty was en- 
dangered 2 And had not the noble natures of our illus- 
trious sires been liberally endowed with the elements of 
this invaluable ingredient, controlled, as it ever should 
be, by virtue, by patriotism, by intelligence and skill, 
might we not now have been the mere vassals of some 
cruel despot over us, where the very first breath of "ex- 
citement " for freedom, might have been " legally " and 
instantly punished with death? for, even in this boasted 
land of the free, and in these ominous times of unhal- 
lowed, despotic, or mobocratic liberty, the desire for the 
same doctrine of tyrants to be settled upon us for ever, 
has been more than hinted at by some petty despots 
among us, asserting that to even ask for freedom is a 
political crime, worthy the infliction of pains and penal- 
ties, to deprive us of those inborn rights of "thought 
and speech " which first we derived from the very author 
of our being ; and which, with due deference, are but 
sanctioned, fully confirmed, and constitutionally guar- 
antied and transmitted to us by our fathers : signed by 
their palsied hand in death, and sealed by their blood. 
This is no fiction ! It is the voice of these, our de- 
parted fathers, now crying from their tombs to us, their 
sons, to rally around, and vigorously defend the threat- 
ened tree of liberty for which they died. 

12 



134 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

When under a despotic government, where the pro- 
perty and the life of every subject must depend entirely 
on the sympathy or the will of one man only, it is indeed 
well for the rights and the lives of the whole, that that 
natural and rational sympathy which all must feel in 
common for one another, should not be manifested. 

We hold two millions and a half of our fellow-beings 
in this way. When I say we, I mean just as I say. 
We do hold them, and treat them thus as a nation. The 
north may try to shuffle off this whole dread responsi- 
bility upon the south, but all in vain. The north can 
never make the south the scapegoat of this great national 
sin, until she has herself first repented of it, and then gone 
to the utmost limits of the constitution, politically, and then 
to the full extent of her moral influence, to do it away. 
But this, with the blessing of heaven, would soon wipe 
the foul stain for ever from the nation, and she would 
rise, as from her ashes, before an astonished world. 
And that man who will not sympathize with the op- 
pressed, and do every thing in his power for their amelio- 
ration and peaceful liberation, must be directly or indi- 
rectly, openly or covertly, giving countenance to the sad 
condition of our enslaved countrymen. Suppose every 
man in this nation, not a slaveholder, should exercise 
but a little of that sympathy, in behalf of the millions of 
the perishing slaves, which that father felt, when his little 
son fell overboard from the deck of a vessel ; think you 
our suffering fellow-beings would not soon be delivered 
from the "deep damnation" of their cruel bondage? 

How was this father's sympathy expressed for his 
perishing little son? By the exclamation, "Oh! my 
God ! I cannot see my child perish before my eyes with- 



ILLUSTRATED. 135 

out an effort to save him ;" and instantly plunged into 
the deep, and, with his child in his arms, sank to rise 
no more. Though this affectionate father lost his life 
in the attempt, yet who denies it to have been a most 
noble daring ? But was it any more so, than when to 
save millions, the noble Lovejoy, too, " launched his 
bark " upon the boisterous ocean of unhallowed pas- 
sions, and sank forever by bloody hands 1 

But as a nation and a people, instead of our feeling 
too much for our brethren in bondage, our servile and 
contracted hearts, through long habits of selfish coldness 
towards their sufferings, privations, and wrongs, as it 
were, are " twice dead and plucked up by the roots." 
The truth is, we have sunk this poor wretched people 
so far beneath our feet, that their entreaties to us for 
justice, for mercy, and for freedom, have long since 
ceased to reach our ears ; and w r e have, moreover, re- 
cently said, by a dignified and formal congressional 
vote, that we would not be troubled even with their en- 
treaties. But while our ear, as a nation, through our 
ill-gotten wealth, our pride, and all our selfish interests 
and hard-heartedness, has been closing up against all the 
claims of our greatly oppressed fellow-countrymen, there 
is an ear far above ours which has been open, and has 
distinctly heard " their every cry, their every groan, their 
every sigh." And may we not add, the clanking of every 
chain, the sound of every lash ; nay, the falling of every 
tear ? And, as a just being, who giveth to every one 
his due, he, too, hath numbered the very drops of blood 
and sweat wrongfully wrung from the poor down-trodden 
and oppressed man, by the hard heart and the griping 
hand of his cruel oppressor ; and in that day when he 



136 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

shall make " inquisition for blood," the oppressor who 
has not repented, and done works meet for repentance, 
will no doubt receive the reward of his doings, and his 
works will follow him, — when all these drops from 
liquid fire, by retribution, may be poured out upon his 
conscience forever, to embitter his reflections : for in this 
life he had his good things, but " Lazarus his evil things." 
And every apologist who, in any manner, shall " daub 
with untempered mortar," by softening down, or attempt- 
ing to palliate or excuse such dreadful oppressions, will 
no doubt be regarded as an abettor, and will be treated 
accordingly. The man who is accessory to murder, 
and beholds the bloody attempt, and does not do all in 
his power to prevent it, is by all civilized laws, and by 
the common consent of mankind, deemed a murderer 
himself, and is punished accordingly. If this be a com- 
mon sense and a common law principle, as it regards 
an individual, why should it not be so, on the broad scale 
of the murder, or the robbery of thousands and of mil- 
lions of immortal beings? It doubtless is so in the eye 
of Him who looketh at the heart, and who cannot be 
mocked. A righteous God doth ever abhor him who 
eateth the bread of the oppressor, and drinketh the wine 
of violence ; and also him who is accessory to it, and 
doth not lift up his voice like a trumpet against it. 
Wholesale oppression has hardened the national heart. 



SECTION IV. 

" l AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE IT WILL TAKE AWAY THE PROPERTY OF THE 
SLAVEHOLDERS, AND BANKRUPT THE SOUTH." 

In the first place, in reply to one part of this objec- 
tion, I deny that man has any right whatever, from any 
proper authority in the universe, with profane hands to 
pluck his fellow man down from an elevated rank, but 
a " little lower than that of the angels," in which his 
Maker placed him, and reduce him to a common level 
with the beast of the field, and with goods, wares, and 
merchandise, to a mere thing, a "chattel" in law, and 
then do violence and outrage to every principle of jus- 
tice revealed, or written upon the very constitution of 
man, by arrogantly assuming to claim his fellow, his 
equal and his -brother, as his property. It is directly 
against the spirit and the grand principles of our own 
government, as contained both in our constitution and 
the declaration of our independence, and most glaringly 
opposed to every idea which any of us can possibly 
conceive, of equal justice and equal rights among men. 
And more than this, in despite of the utmost efforts of 
men in their cupidity and boundless thirst for power, to 
legalize slavery, and thereby endeavour, in some de- 
gree, to make it respectable, still, according to our own 
law, when slavery is practised in the most legalized and 
modified manner, it is but man-stealing. This declara- 
tion may sound harsh to some who have not duly consi- 

12* 



138 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

dered this subject. But let us all endeavour to look at 
it as it is, independent of prejudice, and to call things 
by their own names. Men are first stolen from Africa, 
forcibly brought into this country, and immediately 
transferred from one to another, like any other species 
of property. So far as I have learned, I find the laws 
of all the civilized nations with regard to theft, to be, 
that stolen property can be claimed by its true owner 
wherever found. And when one makes a purchase of 
property, he takes it at his own risk, so far as his title 
to hold the specific property is concerned ; and if called 
for by a third person, as stolen property, it devolves on 
the purchaser to trace back, and to prove his title to be 
older or better than that of the claimant, and, if unable 
to do so, the property must at once be surrendered to 
its more rightful owner ; and then he may possess it 
until some one can prove an older or a better title than 
his. As it regards man, profanely called a chattel, of 
course it would always be found, that the only valid 
title was still vested in the man who was first stolen 
from himself, and whenever and wherever he calls for 
himself, if he be an innocent man, who shall have the 
audacity, this side of the throne above, both against 
legal and moral right, to challenge his claim I 

For instance, let any of us be stolen from this coun- 
try, carried to Algiers, or to any part of Africa, sold 
over and over again to African masters ; should we not 
think we had a just right to ourselves, a title-deed from 
our Maker, recorded in the archives on high, by which* 
whenever, and wherever, we found ourselves, we could 
proudly and fearlessly claim ourselves to be our own 
lawful property ? None but the giver of life and liberty 



ILLUSTRATED. 139 

can take them away, unless forfeited by crime. And 
could we make our escape, should we think it theft or 
robbery to take our bodies with the transcript of our 
title-deed engraven upon our constitution, and just to 
make off with ourselves without "leave or license" 
from any created being in the vast dominion of Jeho- 
vah 1 I admit this to be strong language ; but I speak 
with deference, and know what I speak, and mean what 
I say ; provided always, that we have not sacrificed our 
liberties to our country, by offending its just and equal 
laws. 

Short of this, I repeat it, there is no created being 
that can rightfully deprive us of the ownership of our- 
selves, and of this high and broad liberty. Every man 
ought to feel this, and to act upon it everywhere. 

" And if, and if," says one (with the slaveholding 
spirit and dialect), "your d — d 'nigger business' alters 
the case, it is your bull that has gored my ox." 

If this common law and common sense principle be 
correct, then the stolen man can most assuredly, at all 
times, rightfully claim himself; and without the com- 
mission of crime, to forfeit his liberty, could always of 
right, in all lands, whether rich or poor, walk forth tri- 
umphantly an independent freeman. This is law in its 
original and immutable principles, and enslaving inno- 
cent people is but the mere sufferance of the open and 
high-handed violation of the very first principles of all 
law. And it would not be strange if time should show, 
that there is not a slave in this nation, according to the 
broad and deep-laid principles of our constitution, ex- 
cept "convicts of crime," (but by implication;) for one 
of the most prominent of these principles is, that " no 



140 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

person shall be deprived of his life or his liberty with- 
out due process of law." The American Anti-slavery 
Society has not, however, taken this ground. 

The recent constitutional argument on this subject, 
by Alvan Stewart, Esq., is at least well worthy the most 
attentive perusal of every American citizen and every 
friend of humanity and civil liberty, if for no other rea- 
son than to see the very strong bias which existed in 
the minds of our worthy fathers in favour of universal 
liberty at the adoption of the constitution. Little did 
they then think, that, instead of a speedy and a universal 
emancipation, seven vast slave markets would be so 
soon added to this Union. 

I believe that the strict adherence to the letter and 
the spirit of the great fundamental principles of our con- 
stitution, in connexion with those contained in the im- 
mortal declaration of American independence, is the 
only thing (under God) that can renovate and save our 
country from the wreck of by-gone republics ; for these 
are the eternal principles of all truth, both natural and 
revealed. 

Pirates, who have cut loose from all law, and are, 
therefore, outlaws, are the only created beings in the 
wide universe, that could strictly be slaveholders : for 
they defy all law, standing aloof from civilized man, 
being a " kind of law unto themselves." But even in 
this case, it appears to me, that such men (if men they 
could, in any sense, be called,) could not be regarded 
in any other light but that of " legal monsters," for they 
would have outraged every just principle of law, both 
human and divine, and would be " sinning against all 
heaven and earth." But, replies one, with all the cool- 



ILLUSTRATED. 141 

ness of talking about any other live stock, " all this 
may be so by a certain 'kink in the law' as to ' tham 
are niggers' what are brought from Africa, but as to 
* tham are niggers'' what are raised by their masters, it 
is no such thing." 

Well, then, let me steal your flock of sheep of 100, 
and in a week they happen to have increased to 200. 
You come for your stolen property ; you can just take 
the 100 old sheep, and go home with yourself; but as 
to the 100 young sheep, they are mine, sir. 

Now, I don't see but that a man of enterprise, who is 
fond of the good things of this life, might in this way 
lawfully supply himself, and all his good neighbours too, 
with lamb, veal, pigs, chickens, &c, with very little 
change in his pocket. " But," says one, " this is small 
talk." 

I know very well that people who hate a whole sub- 
ject, never hear it treated to suit them ; for manner 
cannot be very pleasing, when the matter is offensive. 
The only treatment of a subject to suit such persons, is 
with the more solid arguments of stones and brickbats, or 
with open ridicule, or with silent affected contempt. But 
suppose slavery could be legalized by men, so that it 
would not be human robbery or man-stealing, (which I 
deny according to the very basis of all laws of the civi- 
lized world,) it would still be a most flagrant violation of 
the divine law, which requires us, under the penalty of 
God's displeasure, " to defend the poor and fatherless," 
to do justice to the afflicted and needy, to break every 
yoke, to deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the 
oppressor, and to let the oppressed go free." 

Now let us lay aside for a moment dark and criminal 






142 LIBERTY AND SEAVERY 

prejudice, and make the case our own ; then say whether 
any treatment short of this towards the oppressed can 
be acting up to that blessed and universally admitted 
" golden rule," " as you would that others should do to 
you, do ye even so to them." But to extend our con- 
ceptions again for a moment to our new home in Africa, 
where we are sold and driven from place to place in 
chains, toiling 16 hours a day in a burning sun, and 
grinding our own supper of corn at night, and all for our 
African kidnappers and masters ; think you we should 
deem it a crime, or that our God would charge it to our 
account, should we at times when denied us by our cruel 
" black" masters, take enough of the fruit of our own 
hard unrequited toil to stop the cravings of hunger, of 
ourselves, our wives, and our children? Yet the pale- 
skinned kidnappers and masters, have the hardihood to 
call this " stealing," and most cruelly whip, and crop off 
ears for it, and sometimes put to death the wretched 
victims of their tyrannical power for taking enough of 
their own hard earnings (and by right their own proper- 
ty) to satisfy present hunger. How sadly now are the 
tables turned upon us, and how the picture is inverted. 
To a mind that has been enlightened on this subject, 
and led to see, and to feel all the " horribleness " of 
slavery, the very soft and modified terms often applied 
to slaveholders, merely to pity, or to apologize for them, 
or at most to express a very moderate degree of blame, 
appears about as inappropriate as that which was once 
made use of to express the guilt and crime of a base 
assassin, who took the life of his neighbour in a cold- 
blooded and horrid manner. Said one, " he ought to 
have been ashamed" of it! ! ! But the time doubtless 



ILLUSTRATED. 143 

will yet arrive, when the crime and the guilt of holding 
a human and an immortal being, as a mere chattel, an 
appendage only to promote the happiness of his equal 
and his fellow — and buying and selling him like a beast 
of burden, will be regarded by the whole world as much 
greater than that of stealing a horse, as man is superior 
to this animal in intellectual and moral worth, and as his 
hopes and his destinies may ever rise in infinite superi- 
ority and importance. 

When this time shall arrive, the crime of stealing a 
man, will be deemed worthy of the nations to combine to 
apprehend one offender. 

Who that has lived no longer than half a century in 
the world, has not witnessed changes in public sentiment 
which have as much, or even more astonished him, than 
this would ? Who that has looked over the annals of 
mankind, is not convinced of the extreme mutability of 
human opinions, and human prejudices 1 Indeed, what 
stands out on the records of time more prominently, and 
in bolder relief, than the fact, that what was popular yes- 
terday, has been on the wane to day, and exploded to- 
morrow 1 

With regard to the other part of this objection, which 
is that of bankrupting the south to abolish slavery, it ap- 
pears to me, there need hardly more be said in reply to 
it, than that slavery itself is very rapidly doing this same 
work. The extent of territory occupied by slavehold- 
ers, being much more than equal to that of the hardy 
sons of freedom in the free States, who deem it honour- 
able to labour with their own hands ; and the amount paid 
into the public treasury from the slave States, being, in 
comparison with the free States, as one to five oniy, is 



144 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

of itself proof positive, that the abolition of slavery is 
the only thing that can save the south from poverty, 
bankruptcy, and utter prostration and degradation, phys- 
ical, mental, and moral ; for God will ever curse the op- 
pressor with a blighting curse. 

Was it necessary here, it might easily be shown too, 
that natural causes have always been providentially em- 
ployed to effect thus gradually, but not the less certain, 
their own ruin. A just God hath always in reserve 

"Justice for th' oppress'd, 
And judgement for the proud." 

Did I dare allow myself, on this great and sacred 
subject of human liberty, to appeal often to the compar- 
atively base and sordid considerations of pecuniary in- 
terest, I could, without hesitation, give it as my own de- 
liberate opinion, that, so far from universal southern 
emancipation, producing southern bankruptcy, or even 
diminishing the aggregate value of the property of the 
slaveholding States, it would in reality, very soon in- 
crease it many fold. Many substantial reasons might 
be adduced from observation and experience, in full 
proof of this opinion. But suffice it to say here, that 
the vast sterile fields of the entire south, owing to the 
blighting curse of unrequited toil, which now rate with 
northern farms as one to five, would at once be brought 
fairly into the great market of the whole civilized world, 
and be cut up into suitable farms for the occupancy of 
independent freemen, whose industry and skill would 
soon bring every nook and corner of them into the high- 
est possible state of cultivation. But the very bad hus- 
bandry, almost necessarily the attendant, as might well 



ILLUSTRATED. 145 

be expected, of unrewarded labour, now leaves those 
otherwise fertile fields in a measurably unproductive 
state. 

And, also, as it now is, the abhorrence which by far 
the greater part as well as the better part of mankind so 
justifiably entertain to slavery, shuts out the southern 
lands from any thing like an equal market with other 
portions of the globe, or in the same ratio that this just 
abhorrence to slavery, exists among men. Did an en- 
terprising company of northern "yankees," for instance, 
own the entire twelve States, were they good financiers, 
what would most likely be their mode of greatly advan- 
cing the worth of their lands from their present low 
value? Why, doubtless, to follow the wise example of 
all experience in this particular, where real estate has 
risen to the highest possible value and demand. They 
would first run out their lands into the most eligible size 
and dimensions for freemen to occupy ; and would next 
take effective measures greatly to improve the state of 
society, in every thing desirable to render it the most 
inviting to all the civilized as well as the christianized 
world. 

We have uniformly seen this course pursued where 
real estate has risen high in value. Even professed 
unbelievers in religion, who have been great land pro- 
prietors, or proprietors of towns or villages, have, not- 
withstanding, often aided liberally in the erection of 
houses for public worship, in the establishment of insti- 
tutions of learning, and in the general improvement of 
society ; and all professedly from purely interested consid- 
erations, to enhance the value of their estate, by bring- 

13 



4, 



146 LIBERTY AND SLAVERf 

ing it into a better, and a more general market among 
men. 

The wealthy Girard, though an avowed discarder 
of all religion, often practically and professedly acted 
upon this principle, in aiding in the erection of houses 
for public worship in Philadelphia. Who does not 
know that the real value of rents or lots in cities, or of 
farms in all countries, is very much regulated by the 
characteristic of the neighbourhood in which they may 
chance to be located 1 

To cite but a single case directly in point: there is 
now proof positive, that the moment Lovejoy fell by riot- 
ous and murderous hands — by the virtual countenance 
of the citizens of Alton ; by a kind of ominous and pre- 
monitory judgement, real estate in that place, that mo- 
ment fell also; for it is now well known, that some of 
the few noble souls, who were not afraid to stand up in 
defence of the laws of God and man, against the infat- 
uated and infuriated multitude, in that memorable place, 
now feeling themselves providentially called upon, are 
desirous to obey the call and testify against that city, 
by shaking from their feet the \ery dust of her streets," 
find no sale for their real estate ; being, apparently, un- 
der an injunction from the court of Heaven, seeming to 
say, " there is a heavy debt of blood against this guilty 
city, the discharge of which is forthwith demanded." 
Whether the righteous frown of offended Heaven will 
rest upon this verily guilty place, as a warning to the 
world, until the third or fourth generation, may depend 
upon the condition whether its inhabitants shall " do 
works mete for repentance ;" for if there be a righteous 
Governor of the Universe who will ever, in some way 






ILLUSTRATED. 147 

that we know not, maintain the purity and the dignity of 
his government, inviolate, and " will by no means clear 
the guilty," that people should never dare to expect his 
complacent favour, until they lawfully render the blood 
of the guilty for the blood of the innocent, slain in their 
midst. No apologies, excuses, or prevarications, will 
ever be regarded, but with abhorrence, by Him who can- 
not be mocked with impunity. Public opinion in that 
place, at that lime, being against the known laws of God 
and man, and being thus lawlessly carried out, goes for 
nothing but to establish the deeper condemnation of that 
community. 

Just so it is upon an extended scale, in regard to the 
dreadful state of southern society, both as to slavery 
itself, and all its consequent train of unnumbered moral, 
social, and political evils. It has long been well known, 
that thousands of European emigrants to America, for a 
number of reasons, would have preferred settling in some 
of the southern states, had it not been for their deep 
and settled abhorrence to slavery. It is also well known, 
that at this moment there are a great number of north- 
ern people more or less affected with pulmonary com- 
plaints, who would gladly exchange their residences for 
southern ones, at almost any pecuniary sacrifices with- 
in their power, were it not for their insurmountable aver- 
sion to slavery, and to slaveholding society ; and that 
they have therefore deliberately made up their minds that 
they would choose rather to live out but half their days, 
in a northern (and to them,) uncongenial climate, but 
in a land of freedom, there to be obliged to have their 
ears pained, and their hearts afflicted and lascerated by 
the clanking of chains, and the sound of the lash upon their 



148 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

innocent fellow beings, and the oft repeated piercing 
shrieks of parting friends ; all of which they well know 
to be but every-day occurrences, on the bloody fields, or 
in the dark prison-house of slavery. 

The southern soil is even more luxuriant than the 
northern, but their slavery has long been a curse and a 
blight upon it. There is no freeman's arm there made 
strong and vigorous by the just hope of reward. 

The experiment has already been abundantly tried in 
a variety of instances where the slaves of a single slave- 
holder, and of whole communities, have been emanci- 
pated, and laboured as freemen, for a just compensation : 
and free labour has been found, universally, to have been 
more productive than slave labour. Whenever slaves 
have been emancipated, they have leaped for joy that 
they were then the owners of themselves, their wives 
and their children ; and have generally remained labour- 
ing for their former masters, (when properly treated,) 
contented and happy, and were more faithful, and the 
nett proceeds of their labour have been found to be more 
productive and more satisfactory than while they were 
slaves. This has been so in South America, in Mex- 
ico, and in all the British and West India Islands. In- 
deed, it certainly would seem to need no argument to 
prove all this, when the vast superiority of industry, pros- 
perity, and wealth, on the side of free labouring commu- 
nities are taken into account. 

And as to those "monsters in human shape," who 
own no other property but human flesh, and make it 
their whole business to traffic in this article, constantly 
driving human souls under the whip, from the very cap- 
itol of the nation to the far south and southwest, chain- 



ILLUSTRATED. 149 

ed in droves; themselves, in the mean time, often revelling 
in luxury and dissipation, while their miscalled or stolen 
property, is pining and groaning under its chains, who 
would not be willing, nay, rejoice, to see this class 
of slave-dealers, if need be, themselves reduced to the 
necessity of wholesome and honourable labour, and their 
poor, half-starved, miserable victims set free? 

I heard one man say, (who did not, himself, profess to 
be an abolitionist,) that whoever would not rejoice at 
this, would, most likely, himself turn pirate upon his fel- 
low-man, when an opportunity presented. How this 
might be, I will not here pretend to say, but leave it to the 
good sense of all to judge. The slaveholders, and grow- 
ers, and planters, in their self-righteous, hypocritical dig- 
nity retire behind the scene, and there, sanctimoniously pull 
the wires of the whole "accursed piratical machinery" 
of slavery, and with base and gross absu rdity, affect 
greatly to despise their own chosen " soul drivers," and 
their " soul buyers ;" but still are " rearing " their fellow 
men, with the sole purpose to put them directly into the 
very hands of these " base men," which they so much 
affect to despise, and in whose society they will not min- 
gle, as they say, (themselves being judges,) on account 
of their baseness and degradation. And these holy and 
consistent men, behind the scene, are also, at this mo- 
ment, determined to leave nothing undone in their power, 
to annex Texas to the Union, if possible, immediately, 
for an additional vast market, to furnish constant employ 
for this very class of beings, which they say they so 
much loath and abhor. " ! consistency, thou art a 
jewel." 

Would not, for instance, the common sense of pro- 

13* 



150 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

priety of every man in our respective communities^ 
readily condemn any set of men as most basely hypo- 
critical, who should themselves attend church on the 
sabbath, with all the exterior of the most unfeigned and 
exemplary piety, while they made a constant practice to 
employ a great number of men, to engage in secular 
business on that day, and all the while denouncing these 
very men that they employed as a " vile set of sabbath 
breakers V 9 






SECTION V. 

"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE IT WILL LET THE " NIGGERS " ALL LOOSE 
AMONG US, AND THEY WILL MURDER THEIR MAS- 
TERS, AND OVERRUN OUR COUNTRY AS VAGABONDS." 

It is sometimes unavoidably amusing, while mingled 
with regret to those who are free from the blood of op- 
pression, and know no fear but the fear of God, and 
suspect no evil but from his righteous displeasure, to 
observe the effect of such guilty, but groundless appre- 
hensions. 

A remarkable instance of this was shown on the 31st 
of July, 1834, by the American vessels which had lain 
for weeks in the harbour at the Island of Antigua, weigh- 
ing anchor, and making their escape through actual fear 
that the whole Island would be destroyed on the follow- 
ing day, being the time 30,000 souls were to be ushered 
into being from their nonentity in the dark dungeon of 
bondage into the noon-day sun of freedom ? to be trans- 
formed from things into men, and for the first time to 
sing the life-inspiring song of jubilee. 

Ere these fearfully guilty Americans set sail, they 
also most earnestly besought their friends there, to es- 
cape with them from the Island, as for their lives* But 



152 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

their friends were not thus terrified because they had pre- 
viously resolved to do right, and therefore they feared no 
evil. They felt that to be just, is to be safe, — well, 
what was the dreadful sequel? Though there were 18 
emancipated coloured people to one iincoloured person 
on the Island, it was still a seen© of great delight to all 
the iincoloured people to behold 30,000 newly created 
MEN, in extasies, thanking and blessing God and man 
for their new creation, and when the holy-days of their 
jubi!ee were over, to see them voluntarily and peace- 
fully go to their accustomed employments with pleasure 
and alacrity, not now as mere things, like unto the im- 
plements which they use in their labour, but as MEN, 
amonc the lords of creation, in a sphere " but a little lower 
than that of the angels." Now who that knows man- 
kind can wonder at all this, or think for a moment that 
men possessing rights in common with their fellow men, 
unless they do great violence to the acknowledged laws 
of humanity, will not feel a common interest likewise in 
sustaining their own government, which inviolably se- 
cures to them all their own rights. On this point, in a 
late speech in the senate of the United States, Daniel 
Webster says, " a man loves his own ; it is fit and 
natural that he should do so; and he will love his country, 
and its institutions, if he have some stake in it, although 
it be but a very small part of the general mass of pro- 
perty. If it be but a cottage, an acre, a garden, its pos- 
session raises him, gives him self respect, and strength- 
ens his attachment to his country. It is our happy con- 
dition, by the blessings of providence, that almost every 
man of sound health, industrious habits, and good morals, 
can ordinarily attain, at least to this degree of comfort 



ILLUSTRATED. 153 

and respectability ; and it is a result, said he,, most de- 
voutly to be wished, both for its individual, and its 
general consequences. And again, speaking of Massa- 
chusetts, (his own state,) he says, u It is no matter of 
regret or sorrow to us, that few are very rich ; but it is 
our pride and glory, that few are very poor. It is, he 
continues, our still higher pride, and our just boast, as I 
think, that all her citizens possess means of intelligence 
and education; and that of all her productions, she 
reckons among the very chiefest, those which spring 
from the culture of the mind and the heart." 

Now, while Mr. Webster was proclaiming these noble 
and self-evident sentiments in favour of freedom from 
the senate chamber to the nation and the world, one of 
two or three things is apparent ; either that he did not 
consider the two and a half millions of people in 
this land, deprived of all rights, as human beings, or that 
he entirely overlooked them ; or, that he meant to in- 
clude them ; or, if none of these views be correct, 
through fear of freedom in debate, he designedly sup- 
pressed his better feelings of humanity, as well as a 
purer, broader, and still nobler patriotism, in minutely 
discussing the just claims to equal liberty, of all his 
countrymen, bond, or free, regardless of complexion, 
stature, or condition. Perhaps he deemed it imprudent, 
or dangerous, to meddle with so exciting a subject as 
that of the rights of millions of his countrymen, whose 
complexion is higher coloured than his own. 

Now it is no wonder that our nation, which has been 
so long stained with the innocent blood of our greatly 
oppressed fellow-countrymen, should be haunted " both 
when we wake and when we sleep," with these awfully 



154 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

fearful and guilty forebodings of evil. No wonder that 
our nation talks about "expediency" so much, and 
" fears to launch away " upon the great ocean of truth 
and justice in regard to liberating its millions of bond- 
men. 

We are told that the " wicked flee, when no man pur- 
sueth, but that the righteous are bold as a lion !" I sup- 
pose this righteousness, and this boldness here spoken 
of, consists simply in a humble confidence and trust in 
Him, in doing right, in whose hands are the destinies of 
men and nations. Most of the impious and vacillating 
expediency of men, is but the very offspring of the oppo- 
site of this confidence, and in many cases betrays an 
entire destitution of it. 

There appears to be men (and perhaps not a few in 
high places in the nation,) who, though they would not 
be thought atheistical in their sentiments, yet neverthe- 
less act, as though there was no Supreme government 
over us, to which they were in any possible sense 
amenable. 

Let an individual feel conscious of having greatly 
injured another, in his property, or his reputation, until 
he repents, and makes all the reparation in his power, 
he will of course be constantly labouring under the 
painful apprehension, of being in some way injured in 
return. This is perhaps a kind of earnest of the judge- 
ment of heaven following him ; an awful omen of the 
future. But let us see from facts and rational argu- 
ments, if we will repent, and make suitable reparation, 
whether these fears have any foundation or existence, 
but in our tortured and guilty imaginations. Dr. Chan- 
ning, in speaking of emancipation in the West Indies, 



ILLUSTRATED. 155 

says, " the example which these Islands exhibit of Afri- 
can freedom, of the elevation of the coloured race to the 
rights of men, is of all influences most menacing to 
slavery at the south. It must grow, says he, " con- 
tinually more perilous." Let any one read the highly 
credible and encouraging account of emancipated slaves 
in the West Indies, which I recently had the pleasure of 
hearing from the lips of Rev. Mr. Tinson, a Baptist 
Missionary for the last fifteea years on the Island of 
Jamaica, and longer doubt if he can, whether the colour- 
ed man is a human being, capable of fully appreci- 
ating all his rights as a man. Let him then doubt if he 
can, whether he should beheld (while innocent of crime,) 
in u vile bondage," and miserable degradation a moment, 
merely because his " pale skinned, or his uncoloured bro- 
ther, has got the power in his hands thus to oppress him, 
and in open outrage of all the self-evident principles of 
justice and humanity, violently wrests from him all his 
heaven-born and inalienable rights. Is this not doing 
violence to all sense of justice in heaven or earth? 
Who can for a moment believe it right for man, arbitrarily 
to exercise his superior power over his fellow man, 
merely to oppress him, and to make him miserable, as 
this nation are so wickedly treating both the Indians 
and the Africans ? Wherever slaves have been emanci- 
pated throughout the world, either voluntarily, or by law, 
they have remained quiet, and contented, conscious that 
they then owned their own bodies, their own wives, and 
their own children, they have felt " rich and happy," and 
have shown no disposition whatever to revenge their past 
injuries." 

Our " grateful nature," in this, as might well be ex- 



156 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

pected, has ever proved true to herself. As before re- 
marked, this has ever proved to have been the case, 
whenever and wherever fairly tried. Indeed, it never 
can be fairly tried in any country where a vestige of 
slavery yet remains, for it will forever be the " damning " 
interest and policy of slaveholders, to oppress and to 
put down freedom, regardless of colour. Freedom and 
slavery are forever sworn "antagonists;" for the one is 
from above, and the other is from beneath. In the 
island of Antigua, as I have said, there were eighteen 
blacks, when emancipated, to one white, and they all 
remained quiet, and continued their accustomed em- 
ployment with far more diligence and interest than when 
slaves. Their former masters then doubtless treated 
them as human beings, as one freeman treats another 
freeman, and therefore they were satisfied and con- 
tented. 

In support of these opinions and statements, I will 
here, out of very many, cite a few interesting, encou- 
raging, and well-known facts on this subject, which, I 
think, cannot be unacceptable to any ; as most persons 
very justly regard well-substantiated facts with far more 
favour, on either side of any given question, than they 
do even volumes of mere assertions without proof. 

SAFETY OF EMANCIPATION. 

Joseph H, Kimbal, Esq. of New Hampshire, and 
Rev. James A. Thome of Kentucky, were sent out 
to collect facts respecting the result of emancipation 
in the British West Indies. They spent six months in 
Antigua, Barbadoes, and Jamaica, and have published 
the result of their investigations well authenticated. 



ILLUSTRATED. 157 

The following extracts, for which we are indebted to 
the Boston Recorder, (says the New- York Evange- 
list,) furnish some idea of the testimony which they 
collected. 

" Both in town and country we heard gentlemen re- 
peatedly speak of the slight fastenings to their houses. 
A mere lock, or bolt, was all that secured the outside 
doors, and they might be burst open with ease by a 
single man. In some cases, as has already been inti- 
mated, the planters habitually neglect to fasten their 
doors — so strong is their confidence of safety. We 
were not a little struck with the remark of a gentleman 
in St. John's. He said he had long been desirous to 
remove to England, his native country, and had slavery 
continued much longer in Antigua, he certainly should 
have gone ; but now the security of property was so 
much greater in Antigua than it was in England, that 
he thought it doubtful whether he should ever venture 
to take his family thither. 

" The first of August, 1834, is universally regarded 
in Antigua, as having presented a most imposing and 
sublime moral spectacle. It is almost impossible to be 
in the company of a missionary, a planter, or an eman- 
cipated negro, for ten minutes, without hearing some 
allusion to that occasion. Even at the time of our visit 
to Antigua, after the lapse of nearly three years, they 
spoke of the event with an admiration apparently un- 
abated. 

" For some time previous to the first of August, fore- 
bodings of disaster lowered over the island. The day 
was fixed! Thirty thousand degraded human beings 
were to be brought forth from the dungeon of slavery 

14 



158 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

and ' turned loose on the community !' and this was io 
be done 4 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.' 

" Gloomy apprehensions were entertained by many 
of the planters. Some timorous families did not get to 
bed on the night of the 31st of July ; fear drove sleep 
from their eyes, and they awaited with fluttering pulse 
the hour of midnight, fearing lest the same bell which 
sounded the jubilee of the slaves, should toll the death- 
knell of the masters. 

"The more intelligent, who understood the disposi- 
tion of the negroes, and contemplated the natural tend- 
encies of emancipation, through philosophical principles, 
and in the light of human nature and history, were free 
from alarm. 

" As we mingled among the missionaries, both in 
town and country, meeting them individually and in 
social circles, they all bore witness to the security of 
their persons and families. They, equally with the 
planters, were surprised that we should make any in- 
quiries about insurrections. A question on this subject 
generally excited a smile, a look of astonishment, or 
some exclamation, such as " Insurrection ! my dear 
sirs, we do not think of such a thing ;" or, " Rebellion, 
indeed ! why, what should they rebel for 7ioiv, since they 
have got their liberty !" 

Physicians informed us that they were in the habit of 
riding into the country at all hours of the night, and 
though they were constantly passing negroes, both singly 
and in companies, on the roads, they never had experi- 
enced any rudeness, not even so much as an insolent 
word. They could go night or day into any part of the 
island where their professional duties called them, with- 
out the slightest sense of danger. 



ILLUSTRATED. 159 

A residence of nine weeks in the island gave us no 
small opportunity of testing the reality of its boasted 
security. The hospitality of planters and missionaries, 
of which we have recorded so many instances in a pre- 
vious part of this work, gave us free access to their 
houses in every part of the island. In many cases we 
were constrained to spend the night with them, and thus 
enjoyed, in the intimacies of the domestic circle, and in 
the unguarded moments of social intercourse, every 
opportunity of detecting any lurking fears of violence, if 
such there had been ; but we saw no evidence of it, 
either in the arrangements of the houses or in the con= 
duct of the inmates. 

Dr. Daniel, Member of Council, says — 
" There has been no instance of personal violence 
since freedom. Some persons pretended, prior to eman- 
cipation, to apprehend disastrous results ; but for my 
part, I cannot say that I ever entertained such fears. I 
could not see any thing which was to instigate the 
negroes to rebellion, after they had obtained their 
liberty. 1 have not heard of a single case of even 
meditated revenge." 

Rev. Mr. Merrish, Moravian Missionary, says — 
" In my extensive intercourse with the people, as 
missionary, I have never heard of an instance of violence 
or revenge on the part of the negroes, even where they 
had been ill-treated during slavery. It is most surpris- 
ing that your countrymen should anticipate such conse- 
quences of emancipation. Their fears are unreasonable 
and groundless." 

Hon. H. Nugent, Speaker of the Assembly, says — 
*' Insurrection or revenge is in no case dreaded, not 



160 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

even by those planters who were most cruel in the time 
of slavery. After slavery is abolished there exists no 
cause for rebellion. It is your nation* not Antigua, that 
has reason to apprehend insurrections, for slavery still 
exists among you. My family go to sleep every night 
with the doors unlocked, and we fear neither violence 
nor robbery." 

Again, in a written communication, the same gentle- 
man remarks : " There is not the slightest feeling of in- 
security — quite the contrary. Property is more secure, 
for all idea of insurrection is abolished forever." 

For innumerable, well-authenticated, and overwhelm- 
ing facts on the subject of the perfect safety, and vast 
superiority to all concerned of immediate emancipation, 
over all other guilty and "expedient" schemes, for the 
abolition of slavery, hitherto devised by the wicked 
policy of man, I would refer any one to the results of the 
unwearied labours of these men, while visiting the eman- 
cipated islands. The PAithenticated facts which they 
collected from official documents, and otherwise, have 
been recently published in a work of nearly five hun- 
dred pages. The most essential facts, however, have 
just been condensed into a pamphlet of one hundred and 
twenty-eight pages, at the trifling sum of twenty cents 
per single copy. Could all these deeply interesting 
facts at once be read by every family in this nation, the 
whole land would soon resound with two and a half 
millions of voices, in the thrilling songs of jubilee. In- 
deed fifteen millions of souls would have abundant 
cause to join in the general song of joy. 

One has said, that from ample experience and obser- 
vation, it is abundantly evident that men will work harder 



ILLUSTRATED. 



161 



for «Mr. Cash than they will for Mr. Lash." And 
indeed, what man could not labour with more encour- 
agement and vigour for himself and for his wife and 
children whom he loves, than for a cruel tyrannical master 
whom he hates, and who should sell his wife and children 
from him before his own eyes, into a returnless bondage; 
and then give him " daily stripes unnumbered," and but 
a peck of corn a weak for his food, ground with his own 
hands at night, when he should be resting his weary 
limbs, and nothing for his ceaseless toil of sixteen hours 
a-day ? 

And with regard to the wonderful panic of some, that 
the north would be overrun with the blacks, if emanci- 
pated, it is altogether visionary and deceptive. Who 
does not know that the southern climate is far more 
congenial to the African constitution, than the northern ? 

The only reason why there are even as many coloured 
people at the north, as there now are, (though northern 
laws and prejudices are still heavy upon them to what 
they should be) is owing solely to the most severe and 
oppressive laws throughout the entire dark dominions of 
tyranny and slavery against coloured people, " merely 
tantalized as free" which in effect tend greatly as is the 
desire and the interest of slaveholders, to entirely banish 
them from the slave states. And in some of the slave 
states they have even dared, before high Heaven and the 
world, to enact unconstitutional laws, to banish innocent 
freemen from their bounds, (some of whom their own 
children) because their complexion happened to be a 
little higher coloured than their own. I shall have oc- 
casion to quote some of these outrageous and plainly 
unconstitutional enactments soon, then all can judge for 

14* 



162 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

themselves whether they would evidently amount to an 
indirect prohibition of even a residence of this greatly 
abused, oppressed, and persecuted people, within the 
limits of such States. 

The freeman of this nation, knowing such dreadful 
outrages upon freedom to exist in our country, and will 
not at least testify loudly against it, with all the moral, 
as well as all the constitutional political influence in his 
power, will not, nay, ought not his turn by just retribution 
to come next 1 If it do not fall upon him, he is heaping up 
calamity and wo for his children and his country. Let 
an unprejudiced man of common understanding, once 
look at all the laws not against the slave only, but 
against freemen, growing out of the very nature and spirit 
of slavery, and necessarily so, (as slaveholders admit) to 
maintain slavery, many of which are clearly arbitrary and 
unconstitutional ; and must he not see that slavery and 
freedom, from the nature and tendency of each, and 
from the very necessity of the case,, cannot long exist 
together in the same government ? Slaveholders see this. 
and are arrogantly and tyrannically demanding that the 
free shall be enslaved. Who cannot see that one must- 
soon destroy the other, like the more powerful of two 
contending elements, destroying the weaker? The 
coloured people now called free, as well as some whites, 
from unconstitutional laws growing out of slavery, and 
necessary to maintain it, are but just one remove from 
absolute slavery itself. And these violations of the 
.sacred principles of freedom, and daring encroachments 
upon her rights, will ever be increasing and becoming 
more and more arrogant and arbitrary in their exorbitant 
demands, unless freedom boldly and firmly take her stand* 



ILLUSTRATED. 163 

and say unto her haughty and tyrannical foe, thus far shal£ 
thou go and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves 
be staid ! Unless there be energy enough in freedom 
thus to take her stand, and unless she then possess 
power enough to maintain it, she falls a bleeding victim 
to her deadly antagonist. Slaves and freemen cannot 
long dwell together. Either all must be free or all must 
be slaves. Slaveholders well understand this principle ; 
as McDuffie, Calhoun, and other leading southern 
slaveholding politicians have frankly avowed it in the 
councils of the nation, and they are not idle. 

While some at the north are trying to make slaves 
freemen, the southern politicians and ecclesiastics, al- 
most as a whole, and not unaided by northern ones, are 
trying much more to make freemen slaves. 

Our interests, so long as slavery exists, are antipodes, 
except that a few northern demagogues,, and some, too, 
who assume a more sacred garb, will court slavery, with 
every thing else, as a political stepping-stone to power. 
The affair of St. Domingo (now Hay ti) has been greatly 
misrepresented through ignorance, and also through de- 
sign, to perpetuate slavery in this country. In the first 
place, their 600,000 slaves were emancipated by a de- 
cres of France, and they enjoyed all the rights of free- 
men in peace and quietude eight years ; when Bonaparte, 
in his unhallowed career, from mere political " expedi- 
ency," attempted to reduce them to slavery again. But 
they fought as freemen (as did our fathers) in defence 
of all their dear and sacred rights : all that they held 
worth living for, — their freedom, — and banished or 
massacred their tyrannical invaders, and the whites of 
the island which were found engaged with them ; and 



164 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

France meanly extorted from them thirty millions as the 
boon of the acknowledgement of their independence. 
France, however, has recently remitted a large part of 
this amount, and is now rapidly preparing to emancipate 
all her slaves. And how much better is our conduct 
towards them than Bonaparte's^ when we, as a nation, 
in shameless violation of faith, have refused, on account 
of our own slavery, to acknowledge the independence 
of this people, with a population of nearly a million, with 
flourishing and extensive commercial relations ? 

And how will it stand out in history with our indecent 
and hasty acknowledgement of but thirty thousand reck- 
less slaveholding and land-jobbing Texans, who, con- 
scious of being entirely unable to maintain their inde- 
pendence against their legitimate government, Mexico, 
are therefore seeking and pressing their admission 
into this Union, by southern aid, regardless of the con- 
stitution or the consequences. For a more particular 
account of Hayti, I would refer any one to Judge Jay's 
Inquiry, a valuable work, to give Ihem references to 
the whole authentic history of St. Domingo and Hayti. 
As " to turning the slaves all out loose among us," 
some seem to think the abolishment of slavery means 
turning the slaves all out reckless and lawless, " to run 
riot through the land," (as too many white freemen have 
shamefully done of late,) to prey upon the very vitals of 
community, without the ordinary and proper restraints 
of the same wholesome and rational laws which are al- 
ways necessary for the common safety, regulation, and 
good government of all communities of men. But this 
is altogether a vague and visionary notion. Give men 
their freedom, and they are then not only subjects of law, 



ILLUSTRATED* 165 

but proper subjects ; they are then put upon their own 
conduct, for a character and a standing in community ; 
and as they value their liberty, they will ever be care- 
ful not to forfeit it. They have then thrown around 
them all the rational motives, both of fear and of en- 
couragement, to act right. Emancipation converts en- 
emies into friends of a government. Why should it 
not be so? 

This, indeed, is the very government of Heaven over 
us all. Our beneficent Creator has wisely and benevo- 
lently given us all our freedom, that we might feel our 
accountability to all his righteous and equal laws, hav- 
ing no respect to persons, colour, or condition. 

Genuine and rational freedom does not mean the un- 
restrained indulgence of a licentious, lawless, riotous 
spirit, which acknowledges no accountability whatever 
to God or to man. This is not the kind of freedom 
that any man, with rational and consistent views of civil 
liberty, wishes to give two and a half millions of his suf- 
fering fellow-countrymen, now under the yoke of a cruel 
bondage in our midst ; but that kind only which will 
tend to give them a proper sense of their accountability 
to law, both " human and divine." Would this kind of 
freedom be dangerous ? To secure the greatest possible 
amount of happiness, to the greatest possible number, 
the most equal, scrupulous, and conscientious protection 
from the whole community, must, as a sacred, shield, be 
thrown around each and every individual, to secure to 
him all his equal rights. In the ratio that any commu- 
nity depart from this principle, they verge towards the 
extreme either of anarchy, or of aristocracy and despo- 
tism. There is already an alarming toleration of this 



166 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

recklessness, or dissipation of all freedom, in our land ; 
or, in other language, an utter disregard and defiance of 
all the laws of Heaven and earth. And as one extreme, 
in the natural world, is said to follow another, so this 
kind of riotous and lawless freedom has generally been 
found, from natural causes, to be the forerunner of the 
iron reign of despotism ; for men always have sought 
refuge, even under a despotic standard, from the dread- 
ful scourgings of the midnight, restless, malignant spirit 
of unbridled anarchy and misrule, that prowls about, 
" seeking whom it may devour." And, from the fearful 
signs of the times, unless we beware before it be too late 
forever, all history stands out to warn us, too, of our ap- 
proaching catastrophe. 

The test will soon be unavoidable, whether the so 
long and so much boasted republic of equal rights, is 
indeed " based upon slavery ;" and that without it this 
splendid and towering fabric must fall into chaos. 
Whether, indeed ! chains, shackles, and handcuffs, upon 
millions of our unoffending fellow-countrymen, must for- 
ever hold our "glorious Union " together. I have said 
" glorious Union !" It might be, — it should be so, — 
for it cost the best blood of our fathers. But should 
time prove, however, that it cannot be held together but 
by the cement of slavery, — the cruel chains of bondage 
upon millions of our innocent countrymen who have 
committed no offence against the State or their fellow- 
men, — the whole world would stamp such a Union as 
a most inglorious one ; and it would be so transmitted, 
in the annals of time, down to the latest posterity of 
man; and the descendants of Americans would often 
be made " to blush and to hang their heads," that their 



ILLUSTRATED. 167 

ancestors had ever been guilty of forging these chains, 
and shackles, and handcuffs, for their guiltless fellow- 
countrymen. Let the truth always be known, and then 
let us ever, as true friends to our common country and 
mankind, "guard against the worst, but still hope and 
act for the best." The strength of free governments 
never can consist in suppressing truth, but rather in its 
entire and fearless developement, and its universal dis- 
semination, that the people who must govern, to preserve 
the freedom of a country, might be enabled thereby to 
judge correctly, and to act understandingly ; and what- 
ever government cannot stand before the plain and sim- 
ple exhibition of truth, as freemen and republicans, to 
be consistent, we all would, of course, say it ought to 
fall, — knowing that a government which cannot bear 
truth must be hostile to liberty : for the doctrine would 
indeed be an anomaly, that the people who compose the 
government should practise arts and deceptions upon 
themselves, or voluntarily blindfold their own eyes. The 
doctrine is truly absurd in the extreme ; as much so, as 
it would be to " set the blind to lead the blind." 

All history shows us, that whenever a people have 
once tamely submitted to take the incipient steps of 
surrendering their freedom of speech, and the press, 
and right of petition, without instant horror and alarm 
for their imminent danger, it has subsequently proved to 
have been but the premonitions of infatuated suicidal acts 
upon all their liberties, until despotism was inevitable. 

If our government cannot stand without the people 
voluntarily blinding their own eyes to their own affairs, 
the question is at once and forever settled, that it never 
can stand. It may, it is true, if the people do consent 



168 . LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

to be blinded upon great national subjects, retain its 
mere form for a time, but it will be like the whited se- 
pulchre only, or like a body without a soul. Even now 
the exclamation, I am an American citizen, is not a 
safe passport in all parts of this land ! 

We know that our government in times past, when 
great national questions have been fearlessly agitated 
and thoroughly discussed, has stood firm and immova- 
ble, as on a rock. And may we not fondly hope, that it 
will so remain in all future time 1 But let no blind nor 
selfish considerations of " expediency," policy, or party, 
induce any one to suppose, all things considered, that 
he is doing his country service to suppress truth or free 
discussion for a moment. For, aside from mere base 
and selfish party considerations, the old JefFersonian 
doctrine will ever hold good the world over, the testimo- 
ny of tyrants to the contrary notwithstanding, that is, 
that " error can be safely tolerated while reason is left 
free to combat it." 

When this staunch republican and enlightened states- 
man said " reason," it is presumed he did not mean 
those mobocratic, stony reasons which creatures called 
men, sometimes resort to, to sustain a cause which they 
know that law nor common sense will not justify. And 
here let me repeat the words of Mr. Clay — " it is a bad 
cause that will not bear reasoning upon." And how 
does this apply to slavery ? 

The very fact, that mobs resort to violence and brute 
force, is proof positive, that they do themselves feel con- 
scious that their cause is not founded in truth and jus- 
tice ; — for most men, doubtless, have sufficient confi- 
dence in their own powers of reasoning and persuasion, 



ILLUSTRATED. 169 

to depend on these powers by which to achieve their 
victory, if they fully believe that reason is on their side. 
To use physical force, if necessary, to sustain reasona- 
ble laws against violence, is yet justified, or at least 
practised by all nations. 

But we all hope that the time will arrive, when swords 
shall be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into 
pruning hooks. And why shall we not begin now to 
bring this about? 

This pounding, persecuting, and shooting men's opin- 
ions out of them, in no part, nor in any age of the world, 
has ever succeeded where freedom still survived. 
For most men have been found to surrender up their 
lives before they would their opinions. 

The apprehension that our great first rights, " free- 
dom of thought and of speech," were the special gifts of 
our Creator, seems to have been universally inherent in 
the human mind, and men have ever been apparently as 
unwilling to surrender those first and heaven-born riohts. 
as they have been their interest in the Creator himself. 
We find the same justly celebrated sentiment of Jeffer- 
son with regard to the perfect safety of the unabridged 
exercise of the freedom of opinion, to be but the com- 
mon sentiment of all men who have ever been thought 
to favour free governments. 

The following language, so often quoted by all the 
advocates of freedom, like the other, is the offspring of 
a mind of like vast comprehension. " Let truth and 
error grapple." Whoever knew truth to be put to the 
worst in a free and open encounter ? And also, " He 
is the freeman whom the truth makes free, and all are 
slaves besides." 

15 



170 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

The very elements in which all tyrants necessarily 
exist, are the mists and the exhalations of falsehood. 
They are like one with inflammation of the eyes, who re- 
joices after a bright summer's day at the going down of the 
sun, and dreads nothing more than its returning rays ; 
and its mid-day beams are quite insufferable. 

And it now remains in awfully fearful suspense to be 
seen, whether freedom of speech and the press, are in- 
deed to be cloven down in our blood-bought, and yet 
blood-stained country; and the safeguard of liberty, the 
constitution as bequeathed to us by our fathers, by ruth- 
less mobs, composed of their own degenerate sons, 
trampled under foot, and in its place anarchy prevail and 
triumph over the land, and universal destruction follow 
in its train ; or whether the voice from the tomb of an 
assassinated Lovejoy, the American Martyr, to free- 
dom, humanity, and his country, — who just fell at Alton 
by murderous hands, — shall be loud enough to wake up 
the guilty slumbers of this nation to a just sense of its 
well-nigh lost liberties. 

How intensely interesting the thought, that if this the 
last experiment of self-government by the people fail, 
the last fond hope of the human race is gone ; perhaps 
irrecoverably lost forever. 

It is true, that the people of the old world have long 
been looking with no ordinary interest upon our now 
pending experiment of free and self-government by the 
people. What shall be the issue, the bosom of the fu- 
ture must alone develope. 

O, my countrymen, shall the last lingering hope of the 
world's freedom, of which our nation has so long boast- 
ed, as forming the nucleus, be forever blotted out, and 



ILLUSTRATED. 171 

darkness profound be destined to brood over the earth, 
with the blackness of midnight ? Shall Columbus and 
Washington have lived in vain? 

Let no one who would be a genuine and a rational 
republican, or patriot, flatter himself into that most fatal 
deception, for a moment, that violent, unprincipled and 
reckless mobocrats, are acting on the side of consistent, 
enlightened, and rational republicanism ; for so far from 
this is the fact, that they have ever been known to be the 
mere echoes, and base and servile tools to tyrants and 
despots, who are the deadly enemies of all freedom, with 
a treasonable hand, adroitly touching the cords of anar- 
chy and misrule behind ths scene, not daring, themselves, 
to show to the world the naked deformity of their own 
lawless, unmerciful, and bloody despotism. Who must 
not see, that where scenes so dreadful are suffered by 
the people to prevail, that they must very soon effect a 
total subversion of all courts of law and institutions of 
justice among men ; when the walls of safety would then 
be broken down, and property, person, liberty, and life, 
are all at once surrendered into the bloody hands of un- 
restrained, merciless, and infuriated monsters in human 
shape. Men, in all ages, have indeed proved monsters, 
when all wholesome restraints have once been broken 
through. Who does not know that many men of office, 
" property and standing," in the land, have heretofore 
been guilty of this degrading, unmanly, and dangerous 
course ? Will the government of the States, and of the 
nation, speak out boldly and decidedly in favour of order, 
of the laws and of the constitution, of our beloved, but 
bleeding and abused country 1 Will the Senate of this 
nation construe our constitution into a bold, tyrannical 



172 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

code, to wrest from the people the freedom of speech 
and the right of petition 1 Shall we all at length be re- 
luctantly compelled to believe that the government it- 
self has, indeed, conspired against the lives and the lib- 
erties of the people, and that bloody mobs are only ex- 
ecuting the secret will of reckless, despotic, and slave- 
holding rulers 1 How will the 'sovereign people' have it to 
be 1 My confidence hitherto has been, that our govern- 
ment would yet vindicate the violated honour of the fal- 
len majesty of the laws and the constitution of the land, 
even as President Jackson so nobly did in the critical 
hour of the nullification menaces and outrages. But 
alas ! has my confidence for myself and for my country 
been misplaced 1 May Heaven forbid that the Ameri- 
can government shall prove, at last, what its enemies 
have long predicted : " to be inert, and utterly insuffi- 
cient to govern the American people." And may the 
American people, who proudly boast that the govern- 
ment is their own, upon a crisis the most important 
which has ever marked their history, show to the whole 
world that they do by no means regard with indifference, 
the tragical massacre, by ruthless hands, of one of their 
own fellow-citizens, for opinion's sake, or" rather for 
nobly defending the same great principles of freedom 
and civil liberty, which gave us birth, as a people, and 
which have so long been our just pride, before the na- 
tions of the earth. But may the honour of our nation be 
promptly redeemed, by our speedily proving, to all the 
world, that we do consider that the perfection of all hu- 
man governments, consists in maintaining,' inviolably, all 
the equal and constitutional rights of even the most hum- 
ble citizen, as sacredly as those of the highest ; and that 



ILLUSTRATED. 173 

when the blood of one citizen is spilt unlawfully, we feel 
that the whole body politic is bleeding at every pore. 
Short of this, what foreigner, as an emigrant or a visiter, 
can with safety set his foot upon America's blood-stain- 
ed soil ? Short of this, what American citizen will not 
only feel himself unsafe in his own country, by his own 
fireside, in his property or his person, but essentially de- 
graded in the eyes of all mankind ? 0, must it go down 
in the annals of time, 1o the eternal shame and disgrace 
of the sons of a noble race of ancestors, that in republi- 
can America, in mid-day, one of her own free sons was 
wantonly and deliberately massacred, by a base mob, 
which her own laws, or her own people, could not, or 
would not control, and all for the crime of saying that 
the millions of his fellow-countrymen, who are guilty of 
no crime, (axcept a coloured skin,) ought not to wear 
fetters, hand-cuffs, and chains, and be driven under the 
lash by cruel and soulless task-masters ? This, be it ever 
remembered, was the head and front of the lamented 
Lovejoy's offence against his fellow-countrymen, who 
killed him ; for which alleged crime, he was shot down 
by bloody hands, in the memorable city of Alton, after 
having most pathetically appealed, in vain, as an Amer- 
ican citizen, to his fellow-countrymen, to throw around 
him the hallowed protection of those laws, and that con- 
stitution of his country, which his father, and our fathers 
died to establish, and which he so nobly and triumph- 
antly defended, " even unto death" 



15* 



SECTION VI. 

"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BECAUSE 
my IDEA OF REPUBLICANISM IS, THAT WE SHOULD 
AIM AT THE GREATEST GOOD TO THE GREATEST 
number; AND AS THERE ARE MORE WHITES THAN 
BLACKS, THEREFORE, I GO FOR THE FREEDOM AND 
HAPPINESS OF THE WHITES, AND FOR THE SLAVERY 
OF THE BLACKS." 

There is, doubtless, a kind of superficial notion float- 
ing in the brain of some people, that this is a most won- 
derfully expansive, consistent, rational, and enlightened 
idea of republicanism ; and that it is founded on the 
true democratic doctrine that the majority ought always 
to govern. If this, indeed, be modem republicanism, it 
is by no means (in the distorted sense in which such 
men pretend to understand it,) the equal right's re- 
publicanism of our fathers, and of the constitution, and 
the declaration of American independence. 

Now, to accomplish what we may vainly suppose to be 
the greatest possible good, lo the greatest possible 
number, we have no moral right, whatever, to act upon 
the arbitrary and tyrannical principle, that '* might is 
right," and that " the end always justifies the means ;" 
for we must see, that this doctrine at once annihilates all 
the great first principles of right and wrong, between 
man and man. It would, at once, strike at the deep 
and broad principles of the constitution itself. And 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 175 

this too, would be contrary to the universal, common 
consent of mankind, or the laws of the great Law Giver, 
or the foundation of the laws of all nations. Who ever 
heard of an innocent individual being arbitrarily sacri- 
ficed, even to save the lives of many ? Such an act 
would intuitively shock the moral sense of the whole 
human race. But by volunteering, or by casting lots, 
individuals have frequently been sacrificed to save a 
ship's crew, or a nation. But, had even their liberties, 
not to say their lives, been thus taken from them, or, in 
the least degree invaded, for any purpose whatever, it 
would, most manifestly, have been unequal and unjust ; 
or, in other language, SLAVERY. Involuntary slave- 
ry commenced, and has ever been, and ever must be, 
carried on by grossly violating all the first great princi- 
ples of equal justice, between man and man. It may be, 
forsooth, that our supposed accomplishment of the great- 
est possible good to the greatest possible number, may 
be ill-judged and visionary ; and that if we pursue a 
course to accomplish such a purpose, and which out- 
rages every principle of right, as in the case of our treat- 
ment of our Indians, as well as our enslaved countrymen, 
that retributive justice may react upon us, to the 
entire destruction of all our boasted prospective good. 

Such a course of conduct, to say the least, is reckless 
and altogether unwarrantable ; and would trample upon 
all men's rights to a throne, upon the plausible pretence 
of some tyrant that he could in this way accomplish the 
greatest possible good to ^mankind. Tyrants to attain 
power and to accomplish their own aggrandizement, have 
always pursued such a course, and the people have lis- 
tened, believed, and been enslaved. But of one thing 



176 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

we can ever be certain, that equal justice to a//, in the 
present tense, (not prospectively) is inculcated by the 
divine law, and of course it must be the highest possible 
sense of the principle of expediency in the government 
of all our actions, in relation to one another, according 
to that very common adage of mankind, that " honesty 
is the best policy." 

Does it require any thing more than the exercise of 
plain common sense, to see the tendency and the end of 
the universal prevalence of the " expediency" doctrine, 
in the sense in which it is professed and acted upon by 
many ? Who does not see that the term " expedient" is 
now hardly more than another name for selfishness or 
dishonesty] Not only that an unqualified license to 
brute force would be given, but if men, in the shape of 
mobs should perchance refrain (which is not probable,) 
from running rampant, and wantonly rioting over the 
whole land, still the principles would be those of nullifi- 
cation in the extreme. Nullification principles were the 
offspring of slavery at the south. And in the same 
ratio that we find apologists for slavery at the north, 
have the nullification seeds been sown among us by the 
hand of an enemy ; sprung up into trees and saplings, 
and are now bearing fruit, " some twenty, some sixty, 
and some an hundred fold." Everybody is willing to 
admit, that should a law be enacted in any of the States, 
contravening the constitution of the United States, it 
would be a mere nullity, and no one would be bound to 
obey it ; at the same time there is a kind of under cur- 
rent prevailing to an alarming extent even at the north, 
(which is but the deceptive lesson which nullification 
has taught,) that the voice of every community, whether 



ILLUSTRATED. 177 

legally ascertained and carried out into enactments or 
not, must be supreme for the time being ; and every man 
in such community is bound to abide by it as much as he 
is by the written laws and the constitution of the land. 
If such a doctrine be not nullification doctrine in its most 
dreadful, dangerous, and horrid shape, I confess for one 
that I am entirely unable to conceive what is. This 
doctrine when practically carried out into all the endless 
and various ramifications of society, would not only 
make an independent government or nation of every 
state, city, village, school district, and neighbourhood 
in the whole land ; but even these different communi- 
ties, acsording to this doctrine, need not wait for the 
usual and more tardy way of arriving at justice among 
men (who subject themselves to civil government,) by 
first properly enacting the laws by a legal constitutional 
expression of public sentiment, and then giving every 
man a "fair chance" for his life and all his rights, by 
courts of justice, witnesses, juries, counsels, &c, but 
every man with his family and his property, would, at 
any moment, be liable upon any false pretense whatever, 
to be seized upon and all sacrificed in a summary man- 
ner without judge, jury, or witnesses. All this is but a 
slight delineation of what would exist. It is true, this 
state of things could not long be endured, for the people 
would cry out in their deep distress, who " will show us 
any good V who will be king or emperor over us ? 
This is the very monocracy of nullification, most subtly 
coiled in the late famous senatorial resolutions. 

But there is a kind of nullification which assumes a 
grander and a more lofty appearance ; which is, that the 
States are so many independent nations, and that they 
may enact laws abridging the constitutional liberties of 



178 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

American citizens. Against the most arrogant and 
dangerous encroachments upon our freedom, of both of 
these kinds of nullification ; every patriot as he loves his 
country — his whole country — his own liberties — the 
liberties of his own children, and all posterity, should 
lift up his most solemn and warning voice, long and 
loud. These nullification, disorganizing doctrines, will 
doubtless be cherished by reckless, ambitious, and un- 
principled men, who are opposed to wholesome, rational, 
and lawful restraints, which are the only means of secur- 
ing " the greatest amount of good to the greatest pos- 
sible number," on constitutional principles of justice and 
equal laws for all. Our only hope as a nation, must 
forever be in the intelligence and virtue of the great 
body of the people, for they must virtually be the ad- 
ministrators of the government, unless indeed despotism 
ensue. 

Intelligence will ever be indispensable. But even 
universal intelligence alone, will prove insufficient to sus- 
tain and perpetuate the liberties of a people. Says a 
highly gifted and intelligent American lady, who does 
honour to her sex, and her country, " our nation, while 
priding itself in the education of the head, have lamen- 
tably neglected the education of the heart." 

Says an American gentleman, standing high in the 
councils of our country, ** crime and intellectual cultiva- 
tion merely, so far from being dissociated in history and 
statistics, are unhappily old acquaintances and tried 
friends. To neglect the moral powers in education, 
says he, " is to educate not quite half the man." And 
who that spreads out the chart of past ages before him, 
can entertain a doubt that these considerations are of 



ILLUSTRATED. 179 

the highest moment, both for the rulers and the people of 
all nations who are desirous long to enjoy rational liberty, 
and individual and social happiness 1 National charac- 
teristic must forever be made up of individual charac- 
teristic. If most of the separate timbers, which to the 
eye of a superficial observer might be thought to com- 
pose a strong and a mighty superstructure, should, on 
trial, prove unsound or essentially defective, the whole 
of necessity would soon fall into a pile of ruins by its 
own weight. 

But I will yet indulge the fond hope, however, that 
the American people will still not only possess the in- 
telligence to see that their all is at stake in these impor- 
tant considerations, but that when they do see it, they 
will possess the virtue also to fly with alacrity to guard 
the last dying bequest of their fathers ; the preservation 
of their equal liberties. 

All the people who wish to support the great temple 
of our long idolized government, should act as one man, 
regardless of faction or party, as does the master builder 
in erecting and sustaining some mighty fabric. Should 
he suffer a brace to be wanting — or to be cut away in 
one place — a stud in another — a beam or a girt in 
another, and a sill or a pillar in the fourth place, like taking 
away the freedom of the press, the very foundation of all 
free government ; who cannot see that his work " would 
follow him," and that his air-built castle would soon fall 
apart, and with a tremendous crash come to the earth, 
and all in its way be forever buried beneath its ruins? 
Every man should feel that this splendid temple, reared 
by our fathers, is his own ; and whenever he sees a rude 
hand marring its beauty, cutting away its suppoits, and 
weakening its foundation, as quick as thought, should 



180 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

he sound the note of* alarm — treason ! treason ! While 
this idea is couched in a figure, may it be remembered 
that it is no fiction. 

Supremacy of the laws and the constitution should 
ever be our motto ; but while this should be our motto, 
and while we should ever most scrupulously act up to 
it, or live in strict obedience to the laws, it need not, 
nay, it should not, for a moment be supposed, that every 
man has not the most perfect constitutional, as well as 
moral, right, to express his opinions most freely against 
any or all the laws of the land ; or if he please, the con- 
stitution itself. 

We know of no laws in our land like the laws of the 
" Medes and Persians," or we know of no divine right 
of kings. Legislators, as delegated by the people, may 
enact laws to-day, and repeal them to-morrow. This 
always has been so in our country, and always must be 
so, if we remain a free people. It will not do for any man 
in this Union to make a reserve in his mind of certain 
laws which happen to favour his particular interest 
much ; and say to his neighbour, ail other laws of the 
land you may freely speak against, but these are my laws, 
and these you shall not speak against upon the peril of 
your property and your life. The man who should make 
such a threat to an American citizen in any part of this 
Union, if the letter and the spirit of the constitution 
should be acted up to, would at once be secured as a 
dangerous person to run at large. The man who should 
do so, I should think, would as soon rob his threatened 
neighbour, at the midnight hour, of all his worldly trea- 
sures, which are of far less value to any independent 
human being than the freedom of speech. 



ILLUSTRATED. 181 

One oppressive and despotic act, either in accordance 
with a tyrannical law, or as the edict of lynch-law, 
may at once deprive any of us of all the invaluable im- 
munities and privileges which law, in its broadest and 
best sense, can afford us, when righteously administered. 
For it is then, like an angel of love and of power, com- 
missioned from on high to guard with watchful eye, our 
every right, " both when we wake and when we sleep." 
What well-wisher to his fellow-man, regardless of colour, 
would not most cheerfully contribute his utmost influ- 
ence to sustain the supremacy of law, in the just and 
comprehensive sense in which a Literary Journalist of 
the day so beautifully and graphically portrays it, to wit : 
" The spirit of the law is all equity and justice?" In a 
government based on true principles, the law is the sole 
sovereign of a nation. It watches over its subjects in 
their business — in their recreation, and their sleep. It 
guards their fortunes, their lives, and their honours. 
In the broad noon-day, and the dark midnight it ministers 
to their security. It accompanies them to the altar and 
the festal board. It watches over the ship of the mer- 
chant, though a thousand leagues intervene ; over the 
seed of the husbandman, abandoned for a season to the 
earth ; over the student — the labours of the mechanic 
— the opinions of every man. 

" None are high enough to offend it with impunity — 
none so low that it scorns to protect them. It is throned 
with the king, and sits in the seat of the republican 
magistrate ; but it hovers over the couch of the lovely, 
and stands sentinel at the prison, scrupulously preserving 
to the felon, what rights he has not forfeited. The light 
of the law illumines the palace and the hovel, and sur- 

16 



182 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

rounds the cradle and the bier. The strength of law 
laughs forfeitness to scorn, and spurns the entrench- 
ments of iniquity. The power of the law crushes the 
power of man, and strips wealth of unrighteous immunity* 
It is the thread of Dsedalus, to guide us through the laby- 
rinths of cunning. It is the spear of Ithuriel, to detect 
falsehood and deceit. It is the faith of the martyr, to 
shield us from the fires of persecution. It is the good 
man's reliance ; the wicked one's dread — the bulwark of 
piety — the upholder of morality — the guardian of right 
— the distributer of justice — its power is irresistible — 
its dominion indisputable. It is above us, and around us, 
and within us. We cannot fly from its protection — 
we cannot avert its vengeance." Had the good people 
of Alton always cherished the above glowing sense of 
the benefit of law, and of their obligation to sustain its 
supremacy, would Lovejoy or Bishop now be sleeping 
in their tombs ? Or did the people of Illinois thus feel, 
would they now suffer open assassinators to run at large 
in their midst^with impunity ; vying for the honour of 
shooting down one of their own peaceable fellow- 
citizens ; for nobly vindicating the great and glorious prin- 
ciples of the American constitution, which guarantees 
freedom of speech and the press to al!, being answerable 
only to constitutional laws for any abuse of it? Did the 
people of this nation too, entertain this pure, elevated, 
and consistent view of human rights, think you they 
would much longer allow, not only the rights of two and 
a half millions of their own countrymen to be arbitra- 
rily wrested from them, but themselves also, violently 
torn from themselves — sold under the hammer to 
the highest bidder — to be hand-cuffed and chained by 



ILLUSTRATED. 183 

him, and then driven under the lash to work — when, 
where, and as long as he pleased ; and all this for no 
alleged crime whatever? My fellow-countrymen, we 
may say what we will about freedom, free principles, 
and equal rights, — the above heavy charge stares us in 
the face in the view of all the world. 

Try as the north may to roll it over upon the south, 
neither God nor man will ever acquit us, until the blood 
of the millions of our countrymen is washed clean from 
our *' guilty skirts," by at least testifying loudly against 
it^in word and in deed, before all Heaven and earth. 



SECTION VII 



M I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE THE SLAVES ARE SO IGNORANT THEY COULD 
NOT TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES." 

This objection, on the face of it, would most certainly 
seem to wear the appearance of a very benevolent and 
humane one. But humane as it may at first appear to 
be, yet how can it hardly deserve a passing notice when 
every body knows that ignorant and degraded as the 
slaves have always been, most wickedly and cruelly 
kept, and with all the disadvantages under which they 
have laboured, they have always not only maintained 
themselves, but their princely and extravagant masters 
too, in all their pomp and splendour, some of whom in 
their rioting and luxury, have cost the poor slaves more 
hard toil to support them, than it has to support some 
hundreds of themselves, with their peck of corn a week. 
And if the slave, loaded down with his heavy and galling 
chains, has maintained himself and his extravagant 
master too, what could he not do, strike off these chains 
and give him all the intelligence and the encourage- 
ments of a blessed civilized and christianized life? 

If all the slaves in the United States should have 
their shackles knocked off, and endowed with the privi- 
leges of freemen to-morrow, and barely paid a fair com- 
pensation for their labour, (which would also be far bet- 
ter for their masters) they would at once be as capable, 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 185 

from the honest avails of their labour of supporting them- 
selves and their families, in their accustomed mode of 
living, as any class of people in the world. Of this there 
can be no question. 

No one expects that the slaves should all at once rise 
from their degradation, and from their simple and scanty 
food, to all the refinements and luxuries of civilized life. 
Neither would this for their own good be at all desir- 
able. 

As their wants, incident to their free progressive 
state in civilization, should gradually increase, their 
knowledge and ability to supply them, would keep pace. 
Do we not see this throughout every condition of hu- 
man life, from the honest industrious peasant to the king 
upon his throne, wherever a government is founded and 
administered upon principles of justice and equal rights? 
These views are not only known to be correct beyond 
controversy, from all the examples of emancipation 
which the world has ever furnished, but I think they are 
also based upon practical common sense principles. 
Let any one read Thome and Kimboll's late account of 
West India emancipation, and doubt this if he can. 

Suppose it be objected, as sometimes it is, that there 
would be many old and infirm men and women, who 
would be poor, and could not labour for their support. 
This is the case among all people of all colours. We 
are told, that we " shall have the poor always with 
us." 

But would not the southern public, in case of imme- 
diate and universal emancipation, be under greater ob- 
ligation to support these infirm and indigent slaves, 

16* 



186 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

whose lives were well nigh spent in amassing their 
wealth, than even children are, if possible, to support 
their infirm and indigent parents 1 The frame and the 
constitution of some of these poor, aged, decrepid, and 
helpless men and women, have been broken down un- 
der the task-master's lash ; others have toiled out, and 
well nigh worn out a long and dreary existence to amass 
wealth for cruel and tyrannical masters. 

And furthermore, if all the slaves were emancipated 
at once, doubtless, coloured children would contribute 
as cheerfully towards the support of their helpless pa- 
rents, whenever they could be satisfied they had found 
them, (especially, if the parents would not disown them 
on account of colour,) as white children would be to as- 
sist their parents. 

But happily, we are not left to mere conjecture on 
these particulars. 

It is now settled from experience beyond controver- 
sy, that the coloured man whenever and wherever fairly 
tried, is as fully capable in every respect to sustain him- 
self in civilized life, as the " uncolonred man." 

It may be asked then, why we do not see the free 
people of colour better sustain themselves in this coun- 
try than they do? I answer, that instead of wondering 
at this, we ought rather to be astonished that they bear 
up under all their legal, moral, and social disadvanta- 
ges, privations, and grievances, as well as they do. 
There are exceptions as among all people, but I believe 
their comparative statisticks as to their good habits and 
morals, leave them not behind any other class, and 
much before some classes of the uncoloured people* in 
morals, temperance, and economy. 



ILLUSTRATED. 187 

Almost every possible wicked means have been re- 
sorted to, and practised by the whites of this country, to 
crush this long insulted and greatly abused people, into 
the very earth upon which we tread. 

They have always been studiously caricatured and 
slandered in all variety of ways. They have been 
cruelly made the sport and the song of boys in the 
streets, of the drunkard in the bar-room, and of wicked 
men in high places. Indeed, they have been the objects 
upon which the wicked pride, prejudice, and caprice of 
the nation, have been unceasingly acting. Angels have 
wept, devils laughed, and all Heaven has frowned in 
righteous anger at these outrages upon humanity. 

Let us see from a {ew facts, whether this people have 
merited such treatment at our blood-red hands. 

The 10,000 fugitives from American oppression, now 
in Upper Canada, are represented to be as moral, and 
as industrious a people, as any other class in that pro- 
vince. 

The following statistics, among many similar instan- 
ces that might be cited, are found appended to the re- 
marks of H. B. Stanton, Esq. before the Massachu- 
setts Legislative Committee. They are mostly from 
public documents, and can be relied on to be correct. 

In Philadelphia, the coloured population amount to 
about 20,000, and are in proportion to the whites as 
one to nine. The large majority of this population 
have been slaves, or are the immediate descendants of 
slaves. 

In 1830, the whole number of out-of-door paupers 
statedly relieved in the city, was 549 : — only 22 of 
these, or about 4 per cent, were people of colour. Of 



188 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

the paupers admitted into the alms-house, the proportion 
was nearly the same. 

In the same year, the payments by the 
coloured people of the city to poor 
funds, was ..... $2,500 
The expenditures for coloured poor in 

the same year, was . . . 2,000 

Balance, . . . 500 

Thus, so far from being unable to take care of their 
own poor, besides doing this, pay $500 per year to sup- 
port white paupers ! ! These facts were fully confirmed 
to the writer of this note, by the late Judge Vaux of 
Philadelphia. 

From careful inquiry and observation, among the 
3000 people of colour in Cincinnati, nearly all of whom 
have been slaves, the same general facts appear. They 
have not only abundantly supported themselves since 
they weie free, but earned and paid their masters for their 
freedom about $250,000 ! ! ! 

The following recently appeared in the Pittsburgh 
Daily Advocate concerning the coloured population of 
that city. Probably the majority of these people, also, 
have been slaves. 

" It has been a matter of surprise and gratification.to 
those who have observed the deportment of the colour- 
ed population of this city, that there exists among them 
so much good order, and almost an entire freedom from 
the beastly practice of intoxication, which we too fre- 
quently see exhibited in our streets by people of our 
own race. Their conduct, so far as observed in this 
city, is fifty per cent, in the aggregate, more virtuous 



ILLUSTRATED. 189 

than is the conduct of the same number of whites in the 
same grade of occupation and society." 

This is the people deemed by us, (to our shame 
be it said,) fit only for slaves — or if ever emanci- 
pated, it must be done by an almost endless series of 
centuries, and even then their chains must by no means 
be filed off, unless they are at once driven out of their 
country, as we drive the poor Indian ! ! ! As this insult 
and slander to this abused people, added to grievous 
prejudice and oppression, have so long been prevalent 
through the length and breadth of our land, I have 
recently felt it my duty to make considerable per- 
sonal inquiry in relation to it, in a number of villages 
and cities in our country, and to my own astonishment, 
the uniform testimony has been, that it was a very rare 
instance, that a coloured man, woman, or child, was 
ever seen asking alms from door to door, even in pla- 
ces, and at times, when it was very common for white 
people. All this is the more marvellous, because they 
are literally and wickedly shut out, from most kinds of 
respectable and lucrative employment. 

But, says one, what are all your grievances of the 
free people of colour in this country 1 I answer, that 
unreasonable and wicked prejudice, hatred or contempt, 
lies at the foundation of them all, and slavery lies at the 
foundation of this, for there is no such thing as preju- 
dice against colour, merely as a colour, but only as a 
mark oj degradation or caste, by our ideas of associa- 
tion. It is not the colour that is so much loathed and 
hated, but their poverty and degradation. Proud aris- 
tocratic man is altogether prone to shun and despise his 
fellow beings, in those circumstances which the Saviour 



190 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

of the world when on earth, most sought for and com- 
forted. 

It is from this cause that the coloured people are 
almost entirely shut out from churches, schools, and 
every respectable or lucrative employment in this 
country. 

Says onother, for this reason they never can do any 
thing in this country. Very true, so long as a nation 
and a people, we conduct thus unreasonably, oppress- 
ively, and wickedly towards them. It would undoubt- 
edly, be precisely so with uncoloured, very white, or 
half coloured people, just reverse the order of things. 
Not long since, I read an account of a coloured man 
being excommunicated from a church because he dared 
to purchase a pew in a meeting house for himself and 
his family, instead of sitting up in one corner of the 
gallery assigned for " niggers." I am afraid that those 
who expelled him may themselves finally be expelled 
from that house above not made with hands. Such 
kind of white religion in this world may be turned into 
the very blackness of darkness in the next. 

Like the vile seducer of innocence and virtue, we 
have as a nation, brought this people into the most ab- 
ject degradation. And then upon our awfully fearful 
and unrighteous elevation over them, look down upon 
the ruins, our own profane hands have caused, with the 
most wicked and cruel hatred, contempt, and scorn. Is 
not such conduct more like fiends than christians ? At 
the judgement, I believe that none of us will ever be 
allowed to plead our wicked prejudices against colour, 
or against the poor, by way of apology, for our op- 
pression and wickedness. 



ILLUSTRATED. 191 

Were it necessary here, I could relate numerous in- 
stances, of similar treatment, as the one just mention- 
ed, even here at the north. It would certainly seem, 
that he must be almost wilfully blind to passing events, 
who does not perceive, that the persecution of this peo- 
ple, is increasing in fearful extent and malignity. 

Lafayette, when on his last visit to this country, re- 
marked with astonishment, the aggravation of the pre- 
judices against coloured people, and stated, that in the 
revolutionary war, the black and white soldiers messed 
together, without hesitation. 

This prejudice against the poor and degraded, both 
of coloured and uncoloured people in our country, has 
increased in exact proportion to our wealth, our pride, 
our haughtiness, and independence as a nation. 

Yes, the coloured man, when our fathers were well 
nigh brought into bondage, fought and bled for their 
freedom, and now, we their sons, continue to enslave 
him for it. 

I am confident, that the real nature and tendency of 
slavery in this country, in all its bearings upon our liber- 
ties, are generally, as yet, comparatively but little under- 
stood at the north. 

It appears to be the whole policy of slaveholders, 
from a careful examination of their slave laws, not only 
to increase the number and strength of the chains, which 
bind their slaves to their horrid car, but to resort to every 
expedient and stratagem, which cupidity and a spirit of 
despotism can devise, to drag multitudes more under 
their chains, irrespective of colour. It has not been 
generally known at the north, that there are now many 
white persons, bought and sold as slaves at the south. 



192 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

Their first and prime principle in their bloody slave 
code, will be seen at once, to be eminently calculated, 
and might have been designed, to bring multitudes of 
wretched victims, without distinction of colour, into 
their pit-falls, and doom them and their posterity forever 
after them, to a life of interminable and intolerable 
slavery. 

The law is this, the child must forever follow the 
condition of its mother. And as there are already some 
female slaves white, and many others nearly so, it can 
readily be seen, that by the progress of that wicked, 
and adulterous amalgamation, (which so many pretend 
to be so horrified at, if the slaves should have their free- 
dom, and all their rights protected by law,) that many 
white persons, to all human appearance, are thus actu- 
ally doomed to inevitable slavery, with their posterity, 
for ever after them. 

I will here just give one or two instances among many, 
that might be cited of the fruit of this first principle of the 
accursed slave code — I select these because they re- 
cently happened. The crime however, of enslaving 
coloured, or uncoloured people, is all the same to an 
impartial and unprejudiced eye. — The cases alluded to 
are as follow. — From the Richmond Whig. 
"$100 Reward 

" Will be given for the apprehension of my negro, 
Edmond Renney, alias Roberts. He is about 40 years 
of age, low and well made, very large mouth, pleasant 
countenance, and seldom failing to smile when spoken 
to. He has straight hair, and complexion so nearly 
white, that it is believed a stranger would suppose there 
was no African blood in him." 



ILLUSTRATED. 193 

The balance of the advertisement merely directs what 
jail to lodge him in, &c. Advertisements similar to the 
above for white slaves, are not unfrequent at the south. * 

A few days ago I noticed an extract from a southern 
paper bidding up a reward for a slave, who was repre- 
sented to be a preacher of the Methodist denomination, 
and described as being so nearly white, that a stranger 
would take him for a white man. Who cannot draw the 
clear inference, to show what such a state of things must 
most inevitably ultimately result in ? And who will not 
start at the alarm of fire until his own house be envel- 
oped in the flames ? Or, who will believe every alarm 
to be false, until the city be in ruins? It can also be 
plainly seen, by the whole tenour of the slave laws, that 
there are a great variety of ways to engulph human 
liberty by various slaveholding enactments, by which 
free coloured people are made to forfeit their freedom 
forever, and all their posterity after them. I had thought 
I knew something of slavery, but I found I had no just 
conception of it before. carefully reading the slave laws, 
and a number of other publications which develope its 
true character. It will be my object purposely to avoid 
citing cases of shocking and horrible barbarity, (though 
volumes might be filled with such relations as the legiti- 
mate fruits of the tyranny and cruel despotism of sla- 

* A white young man, just escaped from southern bondage* 
was recently presented to a large and promiscuous audience in 
New- York, when the audience was asked if they would protect 
him from being kidnapped, and they universally and enthusias- 
tically responded, " We will ! ! We will ! ! " Now was his 
liberty any more precious to him than liberty would be to every 
coloured young man in bondage? 

17 



194 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

very,) and shall endeavour mostly to confine myself 
to illustrations of general principles. I shall therefore 
have occasion soon to quote some of the christian and 
republican laws of this boasted christian and republican 
nation, both in relation to the slave and the free people 
of colour in the slave states, as necessarily (the slave- 
holders being judges) growing out of slavery. I shall 
do this by way of reply to the last objection considered ; 
that is, that slaves are better off than poor labouring free 
people at the north, that we may the more fully see the 
extent and the depth of the degradation of two and a 
half millions of our suffering- fellow beings in our land, 
and also the comparative wretchedness and misery of 
five hundred thousand coloured people called free ; and 
further, that we may see why it is, that the coloured 
people called free in the slave states, (of whom slave- 
holders complain so much of their being a vagabond 
race,) are indeed a most wretched, persecuted, and suf- 
fering class of people, and that their degradations and 
wretchedness are directly chargeable upon these same 
slaveholders, for their cruel and oppressive laws against 
coloured people, ironically called free, growing out of 
slavery, as the slaveholders say from " stern necessity." 
There can be no wonder that the slaveholders and slaves 
themselves, tauntingly, call this abused and suffering 
class of people " sheep without a shepherd, exposed to de- 
vouring wolves," for they are not even allowed to labour 
with the slaves to procure their daily bread. 



SECTION VIII. 

«I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE IT MAKES THE SLAVEHOLDERS MORE CRUEL 
TO THEIR SLAVES, AND INSTEAD OF OUR DISCUS- 
SIONS HELPING THE SLAVE, IT PUTS BACK HIS 
EMANCIPATION, AND MAKES HIS CONDITION WORSE." 

This assertion, as a general thing, is denied by the anti- 
slavery men at the south, who feel for the slave, and are 
doing what they can, under their peculiar and hazardous 
circumstances, to give liberty to the captive. These men, 
some of whom were once themselves slaveholders from 
their location, ought to know. They hold correspondence 
with the friends of the slave in the different parts of the 
world, and rejoice that the cause of emancipation, whe- 
ther seen or not by all, in reality, is rapidly advancing 
towards a final and glorious consummation. They tell 
us too that the slaveholders are now beginning to feel 
conscious, that the eyes not only of the people of the 
States of this Union are upon them, but the eyes also of 
the whole civilized world ; and that it has already tended 
in many instances to the mitigation of the usual cruel 
and rigorous treatment of their slaves ; and that in a num- 
ber of instances, emancipation has already taken place, 
which they say, in all probability would not have been 
the case, if all the north and the whole world had either 
been mute on the subject of slavery, or had been barely 
apologizing for it in a way indirectly amounting to its en- 
tire approval. The right of trial by jury in a number of 



196 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

the northern states for coloured people claimed by slave 
hunters as fugitive slaves, has been secured by the efforts 
of abolitionists ; and the happy result has been, that num- 
bers have justly retained their freedom who would other- 
wise have been lynched without mercy, and at once drag- 
ged into bondage when there would have been none to 
deliver!! 

Some 500 fugitives from the great prison-house in the 
land of oppression, have been kindly assisted (according 
to a divine command) on their way to a land called mo- 
narchical to obtain their freedom. But suppose even all 
that the opposers of abolitionists ask be granted ; what 
then 1 If in the incipient stages of any given enterprise no 
signal signs of good were apparent, would it be either fair 
or sound argument for its enemies thence to infer, that 
it should at once and forever be abandoned? If so, 
then might the student lay aside his books, and fold his 
arms to rest for life, because he is not yet familiar with 
all the lore of Greece and Rome. Then might the 
farmer say, I will not fell the first tree in the forest, be- 
cause I do not now see my extensive and highly culti- 
vated fields, waving with an abundant harvest. The 
mechanic too might lay aside his tools and sit down in 
indolence and penury, because a seventy-four gun ship 
which he would build, while all its materials are in a 
state of nature, was not already floating with majesty 
and grandeur upon the bosom of the deep — or a city as 
by a mighty magic power spring up at once out of the 
forest and the quarry, with its numerous and extensive 
ranges of splendid buildings, and its hundred stately 
temples with their glittering spires towering heavenward. 

Upon this peculiar mode of reasoning, even the Chris- 
tian too might well begin to doubt the promises of his 



ILLUSTRATED. 197 

God, and henceforth forever cease to pray for the sal- 
vation of a world, because prayer for this object had so 
long ascended on high, and yet so large a portion of 
mankind still remain in Pagan darkness ! Would this 
be good logic in the face of all history, observation, and 
common sense ? 

With regard to the mitigated treatment of slaves, it is 
both rational and probable, for some of the slaveholders 
still flatter themselves, that the men of the civilized 
world, will yet allow them to hold on to their immortal 
fellow-beings, as goods and chattels, if they will only 
reform and correct, as they say, the abuses of the " pa- 
triarchal institution." Let such look at the late move- 
ment in England, to change the apprenticeship system 
for immediate and unconditional liberty, in all the 
islands, where she has not already done it. Yet, be 
this as it may ; does it alter the case? Suppose the op- 
posite to be true ; what then? Shall we cease to speak, 
and to hold up the truth before the whole world, and to 
do good as we have opportunity, because others, in 
their tyrannical and unwarrantable interests are infring- 
ed upon, and in their exasperations may take occasion 
therefrom to do evil ? Silence upon this subject is a 
heinous crime, that calls for the just vengeance of a 
just Heaven. Suppose, for example, that wicked men, 
through their unbelief and their enmity to the truth, 
should even scourge and imprison their own wives and 
children, (if they possessed this despotic power, even as 
slaveholders do over their slaves,) to keep them away 
from its influence : should the ministers of Christ, there- 
fore, cease to proclaim the truth boldly, in all affection 
as they ought to proclaim it, and to declare the whole 
eouncil of God, whether men will hear, or whether they 

17* 



19S LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

will forbear? Even if this people should harden their 
hearts, and turn away from the truth, and perish, as did 
the Jews, and as have other nations ; still those, and 
those only, who have faithfully declared the truth, have 
always been clear of their blood. It is sometimes 
darkest just before day ; and men often exhibit most 
of the tiger, just before they become like the 
lamb. There is therefore, yet hope for this op- 
pressive nation. The bloody Saul of Tarsus fur- 
nishes the world a most striking example of this. It is 
recorded that he was in a rage, just before it is said of 
him, "behold ! he prayeth." And how grateful is the 
hope that slaveholders, who now regard abolitionists as 
their greatest enemies, will yet regard them as being, 

AND HAVING BEEN, THEIR BEST AND MOST FAITHFUL 

friends. The wonderful plea to frighten the world, 
that abolitionists, simply by the public expression of their 
sentiments against slavery, and asking Congress, as is 
their right and their duty to do, and as Franklin, Jay, and 
a host of patriots and philanthropists have done before 
them, to do no more than to exercise its clear constitu- 
tional powers, to abolish slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia, in the territories, and the traffic between the 
States, have put the cause of emancipation back fifty 
years, has no foundation in point of fact, in past experi- 
ence, or in sound common sense. 

If all men should maintain a profound silence on the 
subject of slavery, as slaveholders so arrogantly de- 
mand, and as some very "peaceable " pro-slavery folks 
so very 4 prudently and servilely obey,' we might as well 
expect slaveholders would emancipate their horses, as 
those immortal beings, now in their talons, and which we 
are told were created in the image of God, and but a lit- 
tle lower than the angels. 






SECTION IX. 

44 1 AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION, OF SLAVERY EE- 
CAUSE THE ' niggtT8 ' ARE ALL THIEVES." 

It is by no means admitted, that more coloured than un- 
coloured people are thieves, in proportion to their num- 
ber, in the like morally, mentally, and physically degraded 
circumstances. But the question at once arises, can there 
be another people found on the earth, so much opp; 
ed, degraded, and trodden under foot, of a haughty and 
an unfeeling world? I have already shown that coloured, 
or uncoloured people, having no character to lose, and in 
their estimation, no prospect of acquiring one, 'save by a 
special, divine influence,) would generally become reck- 
less in principle and conduct, and often careless of life 
itself. And, indeed, what man of common sense, un- 
derstanding the laws of the human mind, could rational- 
ly wonder if this people, so greatly wronged and oppress- 
ed by men calling themselves Christians, in their exas- 
perations, should not only curse Christians, but the very 
God of Christians. But, admitting all that this objector 
would ask, that the coloured people being most cruelly 
and unjustly deprived of all their rights, and sometimes 
too, of the food necessary to their very existence, by the 
whites, sometimes from painful necessity turn about, and 
do what these whites call " stealing from them." You 
will allow me to illustrate the cause of it, in most ca 
by the relation, simply, of one or two very brief little 



200 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

anecdotes, showing, at once, the mere common, animal 
nature of man and beast, ungoverned, or unrestrained 
by moral principle : — 

A cat, finding herself imprisoned with a rat, even 
when she was sufferin g the dying pains of hunger, had 
no disposition to devour her usual prey, to satisfy even 
these last demands of exhausted nature ; but caressed 
it — feeling conscious, I suppose, that they were both 
in the like mutually dependent circumstances. 

And again, a man locked himself up in a room with a 
number of kind t domesticated cats, and for his own cruel 
amusement, whipped them, until finding no way of 
escape, in self-defence, (commonly called the " first law 
of nature,") they turned upon him and destroyed him. 

It is also said, that an eccentric man, keeps for exhi- 
bition, on the bridge over the Thames in London, a 
large cage of living animals, the stronger of which, when 
at liberty, have always been known to be destroying the 
weaker ; but, being in like mutually dependent circum- 
stances, they all lived in the most perfect peace and har- 
mony. 

Who can but derive a highly instructive moral les- 
son from all such facts, however small in themselves ? 
But "none are so deaf as those who will not hear, or so 
blind as those who will not see." Who has failed to 
see, as a general principle, " the world over," that when 
men, by any train of fortuitous circumstances, whatever, 
found themselves exalted far above their surrounding 
fellow-beings, and as they supposed, independent of them, 
they have manifested to all, that they lived in a region 
where the very atmosphere, as it were, had either quite 
benumbed, or narrowed down, all those common regards 



ILLUSTRATED. 201 

and common sympathies of human life, to a mere point. 
But, as a hopeful and redeeming feature in the world, 
there stands out, in bold relief, some bright and honour- 
able, and noble exceptions. The general principle, 
however, shows most clearly, why slaveholders, and the 
wealthy and the powerful, as a general thing, do not feel 
for the poor slave, trodden down under their feet, seem- 
ingly, entirely out of their sight. The benevolence of 
the soul, should at least be sufficiently expansive to en- 
compass all ranks and conditions of the family of man; 
a feeling more circumscribed than this, could hardly be 
termed benevolence or philanthropy. 



SECTION X. 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, SAYS 
ANOTHER, BECAUSE AMALGAMATION WOULD FOLLOW 
BY INTERMARRIAGES WITH THE BLACKS." 

This, with some persons of most exquisite and refin- 
ed taste and sensibility, has been a formidable objec- 
tion to emancipation. And while they have been appa- 
rently horrified at the visionary prospect of legal amal- 
gamation, which, they supposed, at some very distant 
day, might, in some instances, take place, as they say, 
by intermarriages, the nerves of this same class of good 
people have not, in the mean time, appeared to be in the 
least degree disturbed, at the awfully wicked and exten- 
sive process of amalgation, which, every body knows, 
has always been going on in the slave states, — and 
that, too, in open and shameless violation and defiance 
of the laws of God and man ; with the dreadful design, 
too, on the part of the slaveholder, of selling his own 
offspring into interminable and cruel bondage. 

The five hundred thousand mulattos in this land, are, 
with few exceptions, but so many living monuments and 
standing reproofs to our nation, of the dreadful evils of 
slavery, and I fear, too, of pending judgements to be 
visited upon us for our national sins. But, says one, 
let those be guilty of such violations of the laws of God 
and man, who will : it is a voluntary business, and I 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 203 

cannot prevent it. Would not the same principle hold 
good in case of lawful amalgamation by intermarriages ? 
Would it not, of course, be a " voluntary business," and 
therefore without any responsibility of a third person? 
As I am not greatly skilled in ethics, I will leave it to 
those who are, to say, whether voluntary legal amalga- 
mation would involve moral guilt. But that illegal or 
adulterous amalgamation involves a vast and most fear- 
ful amount of moral guilt in individuals and the nation, 
cannot, for a moment, admit of a doubt : and every man in 
the nation, who does not, in addition to publicly testifying 
against American slavery in all its forms and abomina- 
tions, do all in his power, also, constitutionally and 
peacefully, to abolish it speedily, in an important sense, 
becomes accessory and partaker in this constantly ac- 
cumulating load of pollution and guilt upon the nation. 
And I wish it to be distinctly understood here, that while 
I oppose illegal amalgamation as I do slavery itself, I 
do not advocate even legal amalgamation. This 
is a matter with which, as a nation, or as abolitionists, 
in the very nature of the case, we cannot and ought not 
to have any thing whatever to do. It would just as 
much, and no more, become us to opinionate and to 
legislate about intermarriages between native born and 
adopted Americans. All see and feel that this would be 
an infringement upon our inalienable rights. Let me 
illustrate my meaning by one or two examples, and I 
think that all who aim at justice to their fellow-men, 
as their very first principle of action, will most 
fully coincide with this plain common-sense principle. 
France, for example, owed the United States a large 
amount of money. It was a just and undisputed claim. 



204 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

Now, suppose, as a condition of its payment, France had 
required the people of the United States to obligate them- 
selves never to expend any part of this money in a war 
with her in any case whatever; and that no Ameri- 
can should ever again set his foot upon her shores with- 
out forfeiting his life or his liberty : think you General 
Jackson, as the efficient executive of an independent 
nation, would have consented to any such humbling and 
degrading terms 2 And if he had, would not the whole 
nation, almost with the voice of one man, have cried 
out, this cannot be the act of General Jackson ? And 
had it even proved so, would not the nation still have 
exclaimed, Let the money and all France sink, before 
we will receive it on any such terms 1 This may be too 
strong language. If so, the reader can easily supply an 
imaginary modification to suit his own taste. I have 
used this illustration, being fully aware that there are 
very many valuable men who think it wrong to go to war 
in any case whatever. But still the abstract doctrine of 
justice, demonstrated by it, shows the universal common 
sense of mankind, that we are always bound to do justice 
to all men, entirely independent of selfish conditions. 
How would a gentleman look, who should decline pay- 
ing a coloured washerwoman her just bill for her hard 
toil, merely on account of her colour? Finite, short- 
sighted man, moreover, is not legally, neither can he 
be morally, responsible, for consequences resulting 
from the performance of acts of justice, in the abstract, 
to all men. 

Do honest men hesitate a moment to discharge honest 
debts, on the ground that the just receiver of the money 
may possibly, in some way, make a bad use of it ? 



ILLUSTRATED. 205 

I will adduce one more illustration of my meaning, 
which appears to me to be clear, and exactly in point. 
Suppose a poor, but worthy young man, had wrought 
faithfully for some man of wealth for many long years 
without taking up any more of his hard-earned wages 
than the most scanty living. His wages had accumu- 
lated to a considerable amount, which he now demanded. 

The wealthy man, for whom this young man had so 
long and so faithfully laboured, admitted the claim tahe 
just to the full extent ; but having a favourite daughter, 
and fearing she might " fall in love " with the money or 
the young man, and marry him, withholds it forever, 
and compels this same young man to work on for him, 
through life, for the scanty pittance of his living : and 
as the rich man died, to will the young man's posterity 
(according to the genuine slaveholding code,) for the 
benefit of his own already wealthy heirs. Should mo- 
tives so base, and so unworthy of man, as in this case, 
ever be seriously attempted to be carried out into prac- 
tice, would not the simultaneous burst of virtuous indig- 
nation, of the whole community, be " shame on such a 
man !" Never mind the daughter, but demand of the 
tyrant, "the just wages," to the uttermost farthing. 

By the very simple mode of illustrations which I have 
chosen here, it appears to me that no one can fail to see 
the force and propriety of the high and invariable obliga- 
tory principle, upon all men, to do immediate justice to 
every one, altogether independent of any known condi- 
tions, or conjectured consequences. 

Must we not all see that this " quibbling and parley- 
ing" about conditions and consequences, is altogether 
a selfish business, and has nothing, whatever, to do with 

18 



206 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

the straightforward act of "doing justice to all men, for 
the sake of justice." The truth is, that just so far as we 
impose restrictions upon our fellow-men, as the express 
conditions of our performing a simple act of justice to 
them, in the same ratio it is an abridgement of their in- 
alienable equal liberties, and equal rights, with us, which 
were given to all men by the great first Giver of every 
right, or of" every good and perfect gift," and which are 
ever regarded by Him, with a single eye. 

Abolitionists have nothing, whatever, to do with amal- 
gamation, any more than anti-abolitionists have. It is 
their business, and should be the business of this whole 
nation, without delay, to restore immediately, the down- 
trodden millions of our fellow-countrymen, under our 
feet, all their sacred rights, as men, and immortal 
and accountable beings, which we, by a tyranni- 
cal hand, have wrongfully and most wickedly wrested 
from them. There is nothing more common, when men 
are opposed to a cause, than for them to array the 
strongest prejudices in human nature against it. 

Hence, we have heard the note of alarm, long and 
loud, — amalgamation! amalgamation! sounded over 
the whole length and breadth of the land ; and that, too, 
by some who were practically and foully implicated, 
in the very charge which themselves would falsely 
prefer against others. In a certain stage of the temper- 
ance cause, for instance, the cry of church and state 
was reiterated from one end of the land to the other, by 
its opposers, knowing well that the people dreaded 
nothing more. 

But with regard to amalgamation, who cannot see, 
that it might much more effectually be prevented, if the 



ILLUSTRATED. 207 

people should require it to be done, by legal enactments, 
when all the sacred rights and immunities of that down- 
trodden and much abused people, should be restored to 
them, and all their interests and relations of life, secure- 
ly guarded, by the strong arm of law ; and when base, 

UNPRINCIPLED MEN, COULD NO LONGER PROPAGATE 
THEIR SPECIES, FOR THE UNHALLOWED PURPOSES OF 
GAIN, BY SELLING THEIR OWN CHILDREN INTO END- 
LESS SLAVERY, TO THEIR LATEST POSTERITY. I do 

not say that I should favour such a law ; for I must go 
for universal freedom and equal rights, to every unof- 
fending human being, regardless of coluor or circum- 
stances. I must abide by the doctrine, that that which 
God joins together no man must separate. 1 mean those 
inalienable rights of man, which our fathers meant, in 
the Constitution and Declaration of Independence : life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. " But," says 
one, " I am in favour of sending the 4 niggers ' all 
home, where they belong." So am I. But where on 
earth is our home, if not in the land of our birth, the 
toils of life, and the graves of our fathers? Could not 
our five hundred thousand mulattos, in this nation, in 
a special manner, with all propriety, most solemnly reply 
to us, as a nation, as did the little ragged boy to his fa- 
ther, who, when he had company, being ashamed of the 
appearance of the little fellow, sternly told him to " run 
home." " Father," said his unsuspecting child, " where 
is my home V 1 

Who will dare say, " let the sin be on my head, of 
rending asunder all the sacred ties of kindred blood, 
of this greatly oppressed people, both of the living and 
of the dead, by a cruel, compulsory expatriation." But 



208 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

of the utter impracticability of colonization, and of the 
decided hostility of slaveholding colonizationists, ever to 
emancipate their slaves to colonize them ; and also of the 
whole favourable bearing to perpetuate slavery, of the 
visionary colonization scheme ; I shall say more here- 
after, which I trust may be convincing to every unpreju- 
diced benevolent mind, that it is very far from being a 
system of benevolence, though many, no doubt, have 
honestly thought it so. 






SECTION XL 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE THE BLACKS ARE SO * EXTREMELY OFFEN- 
SIVE,' I CANNOT BEAR THEM ABOUT ME." 

This same " exquisite " creature, in a short time after 
making this ostentatious parade, to give us an exhibi- 
tion of her extreme refinement, and great delicacy of 
taste, had occasion to give a " splendid party ;" and for- 
getting what she had said, was at much trouble and 
pains to procure none but "coloured waiters," to 
keep up the " style." 

Was not this consistent uncoloured lady, herself 
doubly a slave : to prejudice in the one case, and to 
fashion in the other ? Who must not see, that slavery 
and degradation, and not colour, is the foundation of all 
this wicked, proud, and haughty prejudice ; or, to speak 
more properly, scorn and contempt of the poor, degrad- 
ed, and helpless, of this cold and heartless world. Let 
us take a case or two more, and see how it looks, and 
ascertain what we can make of it. There are now, in 
the city of New-York, various institutions of amusement, 
where the keepers indignantly repulse the entrance, for 
a moment, of all free people of colour, however 
respectable, or well behaved ; but freely admit them in 
the capacity of slaves or servants. I heard a coloured 
gentleman of sound sense remark, that the more res- 
pectable a coloured man appeared, the more some white 

18* 



210 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

people would abuse him. Such wickedness and hypo- 
crisy as this, when tolerated and countenanced by 
community, generally, is enough to draw down the right- 
eous judgements of Heaven upon any people on earth. In 
times of common danger, slaves have often been eman- 
cipated, and uncoloured men forgot they were in arms, 
side by side, in common defence, for their common in- 
terests and safety. This is all human nature, both among 
coloured and uncoloured people. When men fear no 
danger, every one appears to be exalting himself above 
his fellow. And we all see, that in this way, by long 
and uninterrupted prosperity, nations, as well as indi- 
viduals, often become proud, and greatly lifted up, to a 
giddy and dangerous eminence. But when a sense of 
some great and common danger pervades a whole coun- 
try, we see the rich and the poor, the high and the low, 
the learned and the unlearned ; and, indeed, all ranks 
and conditions of men, meet and mingle together, and 
look upon each other as brethren of one eommon fam- 
ily, feeling a mutual and a general community of in- 
terests. Should other powers combine to subvert our 
liberties, it would not be strange to see coloured and 
uncoloured men, again defending their common coun- 
try, side by side. 

I suppose it is for the like wise purposes of salutary 
humiliation, that we are told, that it is better for us to go 
to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of 
feasting. But for these things, may a kind heaven for- 
bid, that, as a nation, we should ever be called to mourn, 
as one that " moiirneth without a comforter" There are 
aristocrats here, at the north, who will ride by the side 
of" black" drivers, day after day, in the capacity of ser- 



ILLUSTRATED. 211 

vants, while it flatters their pride and their vanity, to have 
the world gaze upon them, as gentlemen of dignity and 
fortune, perchance, that they can order their boy, Jack, 
Joe, or Jim, with all the haughty airs of a master over 
his slave ; and at the same time, these same aristocrats 
would feel themselves very highly insulted, if a stage, 
packet, or steamboat proprietor, or agent, should dare 
presume to give the most respectable free person of 
colour, a passage, at the same time, on equal terms, 
for the same money, with themselves, under any circum- 
stances whatever. 

At the last anniversary of the New-York State Anti- 
slavery Society, a coloured clergyman from the city of 
New-York, Rev. Theodore S. Wricht, portrayed in 
a most touching manner a few of the miseries, wrongs, 
and oppressions which this cruel prejudice wrought upon 
the coloured people. I verily felt, while listening to his 
statements, that this nation had, as it were, leagued to- 
gether to crush this people into the dust, until a righteous 
God should appear with his strong arm for their deliver- 
ance, by taking vengeance on their oppressors. After 
showing the grievous disabilities which the coloured 
people in this country laboured under on account of this 
prejudice, in being debarred the privilege of churches, 
and of schools, trades, &c. &c. for the benefit of their 
children ; and how mortifying and afflicting it was to 
look upon their dear children, which they tenderly loved, 
and whose respectability and welfare they ardently de- 
sired, but were not allowed to promote them, being 
weighed down to the earth with unreasonable prejudice ; 
he went on to relate a number of instances of great 



212 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

affliction and death which had been caused by it, a few 
of which I will recite in his own language. 

" Miss Betsey Stockton, a coloured lady, who ac- 
companied Mrs. Stewart on the first mission, I think, 
to the Sandwich Islands, was travelling for her health. 
In coming up the North River, although under the pro- 
tection of a white gentleman, and although an intelli- 
gent and philanthropic woman, who had crossed the 
ocean to aid in enlightening and converting the heathen, 
she was not permitted a place beneath the deck to lay 
her head in the damp night. By this exposure, her 
health was injured and her life endangered. Mrs. 
Smith was a pious woman, and lived in Newburgh. 
She was going down the North River on the steam- 
boat. Night began to come on, and she thought of the 
infant she held in her arms. She went to the captain 
of the steamboat and plead for a place, where with her 
dear babe she might be comfortable, and its life and 
health not be jeoparded. Such a place she was re- 
fused. She arrived at the city of New- York. Her 
child died, and after a short period she died herself, 
from the cold she then caught. 

" I might mention also the case of the Rev. Jeremiah 
Gloucester, former pastor of the Second Presbyterian 
church in Philadelphia. Eight years since, he travelled 
on his professional tour through New England — was 
excluded from a cabin of a steamboat over night. Al- 
though in poor health, like his master, he had not where 
to lay his head. His exposure threw him into a decline, 
and he died. 

11 In the fall of 1828, a gentleman and lady, friends 



ILLUSTRATED. 213 

of mine, with a little infant, came from Princeton, New- 
Jersey, to visit me at Schenectady. On the steamboat 
between New- York and Albany they were denied a 
place to lay their heads at night. When they arrived 
at Albany, they sought a passTge in the stage for Sche- 
nectady. The woman being light-complexioned, would 
pass for white. She was interrogated very promptly 
whether she wished a passage. She told them she did. 
Her baggage was put on the stage. But when she 
spoke to her husband, and they discovered he was a 
dark man, the baggage was taken off the stage, and 
they refused a passage in it. She sat down upon the 
baggage with her babe in her arms, and wept ; when 
some benevolent friend seeing their condition, kindly 
procured for them a private vehicle at an expense of 
four dollars, which conveyed them to my residence in 
Schenectady. On their return from their visit, they 
went to Albany, expecting to meet the steamboat Al- 
bany, which at that time was very favourably disposed 
towards the people of colour ; but, unfortunately, they 
were a few moments too late. Their condition then 
was lamentable. I went from steamboat to steamboat, 
and' made great efforts to procure a passage for them, 
so that the mother, with her infant, might return com- 
fortably ; but in vain was my attempt. Whilst her 
husband left her and went home, I was compelled to 
return with her to my residence in Schenectady. When 
the boat returned to Albany, with my companion, I ac- 
companied her home to Princeton." 

On Mr. Wright's return with his companion to Sche- 
nectady, he gives an unvarnished and most affecting 
account of the inhuman treatment they met with, in 



214 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

being exposed on deck in cold stormy nights late in the 
fall, whereby his wife, to whom he was much attached, 
took cold and suddenly died. 

Mr. Wright cited another remarkable instance, as 
illustrative of the unfavourable influence which such 
unchristian prejudice must have upon the unchristian- 
ized part of the world. Some native Africans (said to 
have been converted to Christianity through the labours 
of some American missionaries to Africa) came into 
New-York in an African vessel, and stopping over 
Sabbath went to church, but sat on the steps through 
the whole service, because no one would give them a 
seat, and that this was no uncommon thing. What a 
specimen of American Christianity must they carry back 
to Africa ! Would such a report, if believed, assist our 
missionaries to convert all Africa to our religion? 

In all these cases of unchristian proscription and op- 
pression of free coloured people, it is well known that 
blacks who would bow down and degrade themselves 
to the whites to breathe the air of servitude or slavery 
in waiting on the whites, had free access to churches, 
steamboats, stages, &c. Will not the time come when 
it must be said to such whites, " these shall be received, 
but ye yourselves shall be thrust out V 

Not long since, a lady (so claiming to be) from St. 
Louis, on her way to Gennesee county, N. Y. (her 
native place,) on a visit to her friends, utterly refused 
to ride in a stage-coach a few miles from Buffalo with 
a free person of colour, of good character and of re- 
spectable appearance, although this slaveholding " lady" 
had a black female slave, of overgrown dimensions, by 
her side. And strange to tell, she found northern men 



ILLUSTRATED. 215 

who had christened themselves by all the good names 
of the land, such as Christian, Republican, Demo- 
crat, Whig, &c, who very politely united in the aris- 
tocratic protestation of this Yankee slaveholding 

LADY. 

Northern christians and republicans could very cheer- 
fully ride with southern slaveholders, and their co- 
loured slaves, but on no account could they be induced 
to ride with northern coloured freemen ! ! Shame on 
such northern christians and republicans, — if, indeed, 
such they ought to be called, — who will uphold such 
conduct by apologising for it, for this is nothing but a 
modified form of northern practical slavery. 

If every professed christian at the north was of this 
character, I should regard the north as having even 
more of the blood of slavery upon it than the south, and 
should tremble for fear it might sink, or some dreadful 
calamity, in righteousness, rained down upon it from 
above. 

I once myself, some few years since, witnessed a 
scene in a northern city, which I have never been able 
to regard but with utter abhorrence. A well-dressed 
coloured girl, of respectable appearance, had paid for a 
seat in the stage to visit her sister, whom, I was informed, 
she had not seen for some years. The girl was the last 
one who stepped into the stage ; and as she took her 
seat, a lusty, full-grown and full-blooded aristocrat, who 
had previously taken his seat, perceiving, by his aristo- 
cratic eye, that the girl breathed the pure and exhilarat- 
ing air of freedom, the same as did his honour, he indig- 
nantly bounded out, and insolently demanded of the 
agent if he meant to insult him ! The young man, at 



216 LIBERT? AND SLAVERY 

first not knowing what he meant, inquired, " What is 
the matter?" On being haughtily and roughly told by 
the great man, that he did not ride with " niggers," the 
young man " duffed the beaver," and quickly refunded 
the fare to the astonished and unsuspecting girl ; took 
off her trunk, and informed her she could not ride. She 
immediately, in silence, but evidently much mortified, 
unaided, stepped out of the coach, and all was peace and 
quietness. The good man resumed his royal seat with 
his wonted dignified complacency, apparently fearless 
of farther molestation : crack went the whip ; and the 
poor, helpless, coloured girl, left in the street to visit 
her sister the best way she could. But, for the honour 
of the northern portion of our country, I am happy to be 
able to say, as I was credibly informed, that this "gen- 
tleman" did not live nearer than a thousand miles of this 
northern city ; and, for one, I most certainly could wish, 
for the credit of a city in a land of freedom, that no other 
such "gentleman " would ever come within two thousand 
miles of it, unless, indeed, in the hopes that he might 
thereby imbibe better principles, and learn more civility. 
I cannot forbear here, to give an extract from a letter 
published at Glasgow, May 20, 1S37, directed to an 
American, Captain Bigley, of the brig Cononicus, then 
about to sail from that port to America, on the occasion 
of his refusing Dr. James McCune Smith a passage 
in his vessel to New-York, his native city, whence he 
was driven for the crime of having a coloured skin t« 
Glasgow, to receive his education. The circumstance 
produced great excitement in Glasgow, and just indig- 
nation against this American captain. The letter was 
headed — 



ILLUSTRATED. 217 

"CONTRABAND IMPORTATION — THE 
AMERICAN ANTICHRISTIAN PREJU- 
DICE AGAINST COLOURED PERSONS 
IMPORTED INTO SCOTLAND." 

My object, more particularly in making this extract, 
is to show that slavery is the cause of this vain, proud, 
and contemptuous prejudice against coloured people ; 
and that it does not exist in countries where coloured 
people are not enslaved. American interests, northern 
and southern, and American associations of thought, 
which have " grown with our growth, and strengthened 
with our strength," in relation to coloured people, is now 
the millstone about the necks of three millions of our 
own wretched and greatly abused countrymen. 

The extract alluded to in relation to the American 
captain refusing Dr. Smith a passage from a foreign 
port to his native city, commences as follows : 

" This, sir, is a public offence ; because you publicly 
advertised your vessel for passengers, without stipulation 
as to colour, or any other exception ; and when a gen- 
tleman, intending to become a passenger, applies, as 
above narrated, you turn round and say, ' No, sir ; I 
can't take you ; your complexion is not so fair as mine.' 
You should, in your announcement, have stated, that 
you would take passengers only provided they are white 
— not coloured people — and then the public would 
have known your conditions and exceptions ; but it is 
right now that the public should know that they are 
such; and it is to be hoped that the people of Scot- 
land WILL APPRECIATE BOTH YOU AND THEM. In YOUr 

country you associate with, and inflict no disqualifica- 

19 



218 LIBERT? AND SLAVERY 

tions on a man on account of the place of his birth, or 
his religion. He is equally eligible to places of trust 
and power, whether he be of Dutch, French, English, 
German, Grecian, Turkish, or any other origin, provided 
he be white, and have no African blood in his veins ; 
and you admit men of all religious denominations, — • 
Baptists, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, Ro- 
man Catholic, Jew, Turk, Mahometan, or Infidel ; and 
you would give a passage to, or associate with, any of 
these, or with any white man, although he may be flying 
from his creditors, whom he may have defrauded, or 
from the gallows, to which the laws of his country may 
have sentenced him : but to a ' coloured man,' who has 
sustained an unblemished character, — who has pursued 
his studies with credit and distinction, surrounded daily 
with white students, — who has honourably taken his 
successive degrees ; and, finally, that of M. D. in Glas- 
gow University, to which he had been driven from New- 
York, his native place, — these illiberal prejudices inter- 
dicting him from pursuing his studies in any American 
university, — who, on account of his mental acquire- 
ments, his liberal education, his moral and religious 
character, and polite behaviour, is unquestionably en- 
titled to the rank of a gentleman ; and who, as such, has 
freely associated in this city (Glasgow,) and elsewhere 
throughout the kingdom, with gentlemen and ladies of 
the most respectable classes of society, — at their pri- 
vate tables, and in parties, and in public meetings : to 
such a one you refuse a passage in your vessel, for the 
good substantial reason that God had been pleased to 
make his complexion different from yours ! ! " 



ILLUSTRATED. 219 

And have you any reason to infer that your complexion 
is more acceptable in the sight of God, — of that God 
who has " made, of one blood, all the nations of men to 
dwell upon the face of the earth?" Do you not know 
that God looketh upon the heart, not upon the colour of 
the skin, as a test of admission to His divine favour and 
presence in the heavenly kingdom? You may refuse 
him a passage in your vessel, but you cannot refuse him 
a passage to Heaven ; you may refuse to associate with 
coloured persons on earth, but will not refuse to associate 
with them in Heaven ? MAY THEY NOT STAND 
THERE IN JUDGEMENT AGAINST YOU, 
AND YOUR COUNTRYMEN, FOR THE IN- 
JUSTICE DONE THEM HERE?* Or, think you 
that there will be one Heaven for whites, and another 
for coloured people ? Is it so that you have read your 
Bible? To any of my fellow-countrymen, whether by 
nativity or adoption, who may read all these things, and 
perhaps many more like unto them, and may still have 
no heart to feel that such treatment to their fellow-beings 
is not only ungentlemanly, unjust, and inhuman, but also 
a heinous sin against Heaven and earth, I would say to 
them at least, beware, lest this dreadful spell of unright- 
eous prejudice carry you so far to aid and abet the op- 
pressor in your nation, that it do not soon irresistibly 

* Since writing this, I have had the pleasure of an interview 
with Dr. Smith in New-York, where he is established in his pro- 
fession, — and also of hearing an address, before 3000 people, 
from him, in behalf of his enslaved countrymen, with so much in- 
telligence, classical taste, eloquence, and power, as would make 
any uncoloured man in the land almost desire to be a coloured 
?»an, 



220 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

react upon you, like the inundation of a mighty water, 
to deluge yourselves, your children, and your whole 
country, in one common destruction. 

And now, to sum uj> the whole matter of this intuitive, 
inveterate, insurmountable, narrow-souled, hatred and 
contempt of colour, which, some say, (let alone inter- 
marriages,) will never allow us to treat coloured people 
even with Christian civility and Christian kindness, from 
the light of the philosophy of human nature, and also 
from all history and observation, who that is divested of 
prejudice, "clothed, and in his right mind" cannot 
readily conceive of an entire reverse of circumstances, 
in which the coloured people, in their turn, might look 
upon the uncoloured with all that contempt with which 
we maintain our slavery, are now haughtily and wickedly 
so prone to look upon them. Who cannot see that this 
same prejudice, then, would be against the uncoloured, 
and the veneration for the coloured people ? 

This point I shall leave here, as claiming no further 
notice in this place. It is certainly a most profitable 
and interesting theme of contemplation, to take into 
serious consideration, why this prejudice (so called) 
against colour, does not exist in countries where slav- 
ery is unknown. That it does not, cannot be denied, 
for it has long been a matter of history to the great 
disgrace of proud and contemptuous slaveholding na- 
tions. 

However it may appear to others, I cannot say ; but 
to me, it certainly seems as clear as that two and two 
make four, that the only reason that can possibly be 
given, is, that in countries where the coloured people 
have never been enslaved, the people grow up perfectly 



ILLUSTRATED. 221 

free from all those associations of meanness, degrada- 
tion, and wretchedness, as belonging peculiarly to peo- 
ple of a particular complexion, or colour of the skin. 
On the other hand, where the coloured people have al- 
ways been enslaved and degraded, all the people grow 
up with all these horrible associations of every thing that 
is mean and degraded, as belonging peculiarly to per- 
sons of a dark complexion. 

This is certainly, most painfully amusing to one who 
contemplates this principle in all its bearings, with 
somewhat of a philosophical eye, and a benevolent 
heart ; for in all this, he cannot but regard adults as 
"fanciful children of a larger growth." 

In a country where the people grow up with notions 
of associating every thing that is low and degraded, 
with persons of a dark complexion, we find that mate- 
rials have been in great demand by some, for impro- 
ving the complexion, so as to render it if possible, the 
very opposite of black. Some too have killed them- 
selves in endeavouring to produce a "delicate pale com- 
plexion." 

But just reverse the order of things, and no doubt 
the happy man, who should be so extremely lucky, as 
to make the important discovery of giving the highest 
possible colour and polish to the skin, would at once 
have made his fortune forever. 

This vain, and proud, and haughty disposition in 
man, by the mere instinctive impulses of his selfish na- 
ture, if not constantly guarded, and resisted by a higher 
and a more ennobling principle, will prompt us, equally 
to seek the favour of the strong and the powerful, and 
to avoid, or oppress the weak and the helpless. 

19* 



222 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

We are very prone, in this rapid and short journey 
of ambitious life, to do, like the weary and sun burnt 
traveller, who swiftly passes by, with but a glance at 
every object that can afford him no protection from the 
intensity of the beams of the mid-day sun, in order the 
more speedily and securely to repose himself under the 
cedars of Lebanon, or the tall sturdy oaks of Bashan. 

Human nature thus shows itself in a great variety of 
ways, and often under very ingenious and plausible pre- 
tences. 

For example : in relation to what is commonly call- 
ed prejudice against colour, many, doubtless, have been 
so long accustomed to think it to be as much instinct- 
ive, as that we like the sweetness of the honey-comb, and 
dislike the bitterness of gall ; that philosophising with 
such persons on the subject, may be of but little avail. 

It reminds one, however, of a man, who having been 
so long addicted to uttering falsehoods, that after he 
had truly reformed in principle, found to his astonish- 
ment and grief, that many of the falsehoods, and those 
too which he well knew to be such, when first uttered, 
he had actually embraced as truths. 

Some of the good people in this land, should they 
ever be brought to themselves on the subject of sla- 
very, "clothed and in their right minds," would hardly 
believe it possible that they had once been employed in 
making back gallery-pews low enough to sink the col- 
oured people entirely out of sight of the whites, in the 
temples erected for the worship of that being who 

"MADE OF ONE BLOOD, ALL THE NATIONS THAT DWELL 
UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, AND WHO IS NO RE- 
SPECTER OF PERSONS," 



ILLUSTRATED. 223 

And to tell a good colonizationist at the present time, 
(while so thickly enveloped by all his " black prejudi- 
ces") that the whole colonization scheme, is but carry- 
ing out this same principle of hatred and contempt of 
our poor brother, upon a broader and a grander scale, 
he would feel himself almost insulted. 

One sixth part only of the human family are white. 
Five-sixths of the whole human race, are by the hand 
of our Common Parent, complexioned from the olive to 
the copper colour, and from the copper colour, still 
darker. 

My object, in saying as much as I have, in regard to 
these aristocratic principles, of what is commonly called 
prejudice against colour, is to bring to our minds, not 
only to see the wickedness, but the extreme folly of our 
entertaining, and deliberately cherishing such feelings 
against people who happen to be somewhat differently 
complexioned to ourselves, that we cannot extend to 
them even the common civilities, hospitalities, or the 
charities of life. 

This wonderful monster in human nature, is nothing 
more nor less than hateful aristocratic caste. To say 
the least of it, it is anti-republican, unreasonable, un- 
kind, illiberal, not to say unchristian and wicked. 

It must be banished from the great brotherhood of 
man, or infidelity, aristocracy, monarchy, and despot- 
ism, with their iron sway, are forever destined triumph- 
antly to reign over the world, all the prayers and profes- 
sions of Christians, and all the idle encomiums upon re- 
publicanism to the contrary notunlhstanding % 



SECTION XII. 



•*I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE THE BIBLE TOLERATES SLAVERY." 



Had I room in this place, I think I could most effectu- 
ally prove that this is altogether a false and distorted 
view of the blessed, humane, and benevolent doctrines 
of the Bible, which proclaim peace and good-will to man, 
and liberty to the captive. But as men abundantly 
competent, have of late ably and most triumphantly de- 
fended this precious volume of good-will to the upright 
and merciful, as well as wo to the oppressor, from this 
foul slander ; I shall content myself for the present, to 
leave the reply to this objection principally in their 
hands. And suffice it to say here, that most persons, 
especially at the north, who start this objection to the 
discussion of slavery, are very careful notwithstanding, 
to give us particular notice in the outset, that " they, too, 
are greatly opposed to slavery, thereby (themselves 
being judges) virtually pretending to hold a better doc- 
trine than the Bible itself contains. If this is not setting 
up our wisdom above divine wisdom, and our righteous- 
ness above that which is revealed, if it be not indeed the 
very essence and the height of self -righteousness, I must 
acknowledge I know not what can be. It also, inad- 
vertently, betrays a total unbelief in divine revelation 
itself. 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 225 

And indeed, who could or should believe the Bible, 
if it did actually countenance and uphold the institution 
of American slavery in all its cruelty, violence, and 
abominations, far exceeding those of Egyptian bondage, 
for which Pharoah and his host were so signally des- 
troyed ? 

The negative as well as positive practical inculca- 
tion by the American churches, of this false and dread- 
ful doctrine, has doubtless already done more to aid 
skepticism in all divine truth, with its endless train of 
consequent evils in the United States, than all the other 
glaring excresences of the Christian churches in our 
country. Infidelity itself has stood aghast ! and been 
exclaiming in its dark soliloquy, " if the church will 
violently rend asunder all the tenderest ties of life, hand- 
cuff, chain, and sell her own members to the highest 
bidders, to be driven away into a returnless and hope- 
less bondage, what will she not do? and is such religion 
from above, or from beneath? And what better is a 
church that can remain mute or apologise for such 
deeds of darkness and death, than that church which 
actually takes the bloody knife into its own hand. 

Such a doctrine, long theoretically and practically in- 
culcated by any religion, would be enough to overthrow it 
from the moral sense of all mankind. Palsied will be 
the tongues of the advocates of such a religion. The 
kind of servitude spoken of in the Bible, except by 
divine injunction, by way of special chastisements for 
the sins of a people, is no more like southern slavery, 
than unmixed despotism is like pure Christianity. 

Who that reads the Bible, can fail to see throughout 
its sacred pages, that the Almighty has clearly manifest- 



226 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ed his righteous displeasure and abhorrence to the great 
sin of oppression, and his denunciations against the op- 
pressor, in fearful language and somewhat similar to the 
following : " And the Lord said, I have surely seen the 
affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have 
heard their cry by reason of their task masters, for I 
know their sorrow." " Now therefore behold, the cry 
of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have 
also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians op- 
press them." " He that oppresseth the poor to increase 
his riches, shall surely come to want." "For the op- 
pression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now 
will I arise saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from 
him that snuffeth at him." " Rob not the poor because 
he is poor ; neither oppress the afflicted in the gate." 
" Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant 
which is escaped from his master unto thee. He shall 
dwell with thee even among you, in that place which he 
shall choose ; in one of thy gates where it liketh him 
best ; thou shalt not oppress him." " Wo unto him that 
buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chamber* 
by wrong ; that useth his neighbour's service without 
wages, and giveth him nought for his work." " If a 
man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children 
of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him or selleth him, 
then that thief shall die, and thou shalt put evil away 
from among you." " And I break the jaws of the 
wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth." 

This last passage is doubtless figurative language. 
Can these and like passages be the source whence some 
of our northern pro-slavery friends receive their intima- 
tions, that while speaking of oppressors, and all th§ 



ILLUSTRATED. 227 

dreadful oppressions and the abominations of slavery in 
the land ; they must be extremely careful to use very 
soft and smooth terms to " daub with untempered 
mortar," that while slaveholders are loudly and shame- 
lessly claiming slavery to be the " best basis of free- 
dom," a "divine institution," and also aiming to en- 
slave the free ; we should just merely say, for fear of 
offending them, " slavery is unfortunately entailed upon 
our « southern brethren,' and I do not see how they can 
ever possibly get rid of it. 19 Is not all this too much! 
like the tender mother who besought the father not to 
correct the wilful child for " it was sick," and could not 
say " I WILL ? " Ah, says one, you don't understand 
how to address our "southern brethren" — "they are 
a very chivalrous people ! ! " 

But I cannot forbear here to quote as being in place, 
the very eloquent and forcible manner in which Rev. E. 
P. Barrows, jun., of New- York, closes an interesting 
address on this subject. 

" When we consider, said he, that men have pleaded 
the authority of the Holy Scriptures, as a warrant to 
burn men alive for heresy ; that the monarchs of Europe 
profess to derive their despotic powers immediately from 
God, and call all resistance to their authority rebellion 
against Heaven, and that satan himself quoted Scrip- 
ture, for the purpose of inducing our Saviour into sin, 
we need not wonder to find the advocates of slavery 
claiming the sanction of a supremely benevolent God, 
in favour of a supremely selfish system, which author- 
izes men to be bought and sold, like cattle in the market, 
which contemptuously disregards the family relation 
which God himself has established, and which seals up 



228 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

from the poor slave the word of eternal life, which is 
able to make him wise unto salvation. When God shall 
call evil good and good evil, when he shall put darkness 
for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and 
sweet for bitter, then and not till then, will he be found 
the patron of the American slave system." 

It should ever be remembered, that voluntary service 
for a longer or a shorter, a definite or an indefinite time, 
is not slavery, but freedom. 

In all this, there would be no violation of the inalien- 
able rights of man ; no reducing the image of our Ma- 
ker into the scale of the brutes, or to a mere chattel in 
law. 

There is one point of view, however, (said Gerrit 
Smith, Esq. in a late speech on the subject of temper- 
ance,) " in which this running to the Bible for the justi- 
fication of wicked practices, is consoling and cheering 
to the friends of that blessed book. It shows that the 
Bible is the the acknowledged standard of right and 
wrong, and that men are uneasy in those sins, for which 
they are hunting up Bible apologies." Who can but 
regard this a very happy and correct thought ? " for 
were there no genuine banks, there could be no coun- 
terfeit paper ! " 

I would refer any one, who may have any idea that 
the Bible sanctions slavery, to Mr. Weld's able and un- 
answerable Bible argument against slavery. 



SECTION XIII. 

" I HEARD ONE MAN SAY HE WAS OPPOSED TO SLAV- 
ERY, BUT WAS OPPOSED TO DISCUSSING IT BECAUSE 
HE THOUGHT NO BETTER OF ABOLITIONISTS THAN 
HE DID OP SLAVEHOLDERS ; FOR ALL MEN, AS HE 
SAID, WERE ALIKE SELFISH IN WHATEVER THEY 
DO." 

He exclaimed with an air of considerable importance, 
" there is no difference in mankind." This was his ob- 
jection to the discussion of slavery. 

This reminds me of a curious fable, but which I can- 
not stop here to relate. 

I would, however, just ask this square-rule logician, 
what he would think, in " these hard times for cash," 
should one of his old debtors approach him with this ex- 
traordinary address — "Sir, I honestly owe you five 
hundred dollars, the amount of which I have now in my 
pocket, which I might and ought to pay to you, but will 
not do it for the important reason, that I shall be just as 
selfish in paying you the money as you will be in receiv- 
ing it 1 " 

Do we not all generally suspect one's principles, when 
we find him thus dealing in the gross, with the motives 
of all mankind ? 

Do not these indiscriminate and wholesale dealers in 
the motives of all men, probably act somewhat from a 

20 



230 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

spirit of envy and general detraction, designing to bring 
all men's principles and merit down on a level with their 
own ? 

I leave this suggestion, from which all may draw such 
inferences as they please. It is with general principles 
of action, and with conduct resulting from such princi- 
ples, that men mainly have to do with men. The high 
and sacred scrutiny of motives, is the peculiar preroga- 
tive of the great arbiter of conscience. To say the 
least, one must be greatly straitened, to resort to such a 
fancied hiding place, from which to aid the oppressor, 
by venting his malignity against abolitionists, and the 
poor oppressed slave. 



SECTION XIV. 

"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE THE SLAVES ARE NOT FITTED FOR FREE- 
DOM." 

This objector seems not to consider, that this greatly 
oppressed class of his fellow-men, are from the very 
nature of slavery itself, even necessarily (as the slave- 
holders themselves admit,) becoming more and more 
oppressed, and consequently more and more unlitted for 
freedom. 

This dreadful and lamentable fact, is obvious, on 
the very face of the whole system of violating all the 
rights of men. 

And can this objector for a moment, suppose that the 
poor slave, loaded down with all his chains, (which the 
slaveholders say are absolutely necessary, and must 
still be increased,) and entirely enveloped in mental and 
moral darkness, can possibly be made to feel and to un- 
derstand all the blessings of civilized life, in which he 
is in no sense allowed to participate 1 

As well might we instil the heavenly principles, and 
the benign spirit of the gospel of peace and love, into 
the minds of men, by all the pains and the horrors of the 
inquisition. As well might we teach a deaf man 
sounds, or a blind man colours. And more than this, 



232 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

were it even practicable to teach men all the arts and 
sciences of civilized life, while in a state of abject sla- 
very, it never has, and probably never will be done, for 
the very obvious reason, that the whole piratical and ac- 
cursed business and policy, of making merchandise of 
human beings, beginning, middle, and end, is but one 
dreadful scene of violence and ruin, to all possible rights 
of the enslaved. 

The truth is, the guilty conscience of the slaveholder, 
while he holds on his vampire grasp upon his human 
prey, dares not allow him to give them the least possi- 
ble means of knowing and avenging their wrongs, any 
more than the pirate himself dares put his bloody im- 
plements into the hands of his ill-fated victims. But 
when the slaveholder draws the iron from the soul, lets 
go his grasp, and sets his slaves at full liberty to breathe 
their native air of freedom, as their benevolent Creator 
designed them to do, they leap for joy, and at once rally 
around him as their best friend, and bury their past 
wrongs forever. They can then begin to learn, and to 
appreciate the invaluable boon of civil liberty, and like 
men raised from the dead, to the astonishment of all, 
" they are seen walking uprigkthj."* 

Why do some men learn more than others in civili- 
zed life? There is, doubtless, some difference by na- 
ture. 

But the principal reason, I conceive, is, that some 
mark out a course of life agreeable to them, think 
they see their account in it, take encouragement, and 

* For the truth of this, read the late account of emancipation 
in the West Indies, by Thome and Kimball. 






ILLUSTRATED. 233 

freely and ardently pursue it, and concentrate the whole 
energy of their powers to the accomplishment of their 
favourite object. 

All this enterprise is but the natural result of their 
freedom of thought, and of action, or of men's pursuing 
" their own happiness in their own way," just as the no- 
ble but desecrated constitution of our country, fully 
guarantees to every American citizen. 



20* 



SECTION XV. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE THE BLACKS ARE AN INFERIOR RACE OF BE- 
INGS TO THE WHITES, AND ARE THEREFORE MADE 
FOR SERVITUDE TO THE WHITES." 

This objector, I should think, must have adopted the 
creed, " that all is fair in politics," or, in other lan- 
guage, that "might is right;" or (without allusion to 
any man's party politics but for the sake of illustration 
merely,) that " the spoils of the vanquished belong to the 
victor" and " that the end always justifies the 
means." Here we see " expediency" with a ven- 
geance." 

Now, all these anti-christian, anti-republican, and des- 
potic sentiments, I hesitate not to say, should at once 
and forever be utterly discarded by every philanthropist, 
every Christian, and by every 'friend to mankind and 
lover of equal rights, as altogether unworthy of him. 
They should not be permitted to hold even a momentary 
lodgement in his mind, lest they soon transform the pure 
republican, or the nominal professor of Christianity, into 
the absolute despot. The direct tendency of the 
prevalence of such sentiments, is to aristocracy and 
despotism, and to base degeneracy throughout the whole 
body politic. When such sentiments prevail, "corrup- 
tion necessarily becomes the order of the day." I have 
made these remarks only as being proper and called 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 235 

for, in reply to the objection in question, entirely inde- 
pendent of all personalities. But I make them too as 
being too generally applicable to all exclusive partisans 
in mere party politics. 

But to return to the point under consideration. 

That the coloured people are by nature inferior to the 
uncoloured, wants proof. . I once heard a " gentleman," 
who seemed to have the "bump of self-esteem" some- 
what more prominently developed than the " bump" of 
reverence, conscientiousness, benevolence, or intellect, 
with an air of great wisdom proving this, (or rather dis- 
proving it,) by gravely remarking to another, that the 
" nigger's " head had been weighed in "the balance" 
of " phrenology ," and found wanting, and therefore, he 
said, he should not be free. I thought I discovered, 
from the " gentleman's " own mathematical rules of 
" gauging mind," that he must himself also have been 
rather deficient, and the thought was involuntary, that 
" those who live in glasshouses had better not throw 
stones." But this " political phrenologist," who would 
bound a man's liberties by the peculiar configuration of 
his head, I think must himself have lacked either some 
of the phrenological implements, or the skill to use 
them. For I recollect to have seen one of this pro- 
fession, who, by compressing the "intellectual powers" 
awhile, turned them all into the " animal organs" and 
then, by an inverse process, after a while remodelled 
the same " animal" into a prodigy of intellect! 

It is not my province, however, in this place, neither 
is it at all to my purpose, to canvass the particular 
claims and utility of phrenology. To say no more, in 
looking over the publications on the subject, there cer- 



236 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

tainly appears to be many things which at least look 
plausible, especially if one side only be considered. 
The doctrine, also, has some ingenious and skilful ad- 
vocates. But suffice it to say on this point, that even 
supposing phrenology to be well-founded, and true in 
all its length and breadth, and that our long and heavy 
oppressions upon the down-trodden coloured people 
have indeed pressed their " intellectual powers" into the 
" animal organs," (as this phrenologist declares,) it 
would still be one of the most conclusive arguments 
conceivable, that we ought at once to let off our vile 
and heavy hand of oppression upon our brother, which 
has thus profanely plucked him down from the dignified 
and elevated rank of a noble and an intellectual MAN, 
then thrust him under our feet, and trampled his very 
head (as this phrenologist would have it) into that of a 
mere " brute." 

I say, if all this indeed be so, it is certainly, of all 
other reasons, the most powerful and conclusive one 
imaginable, why the hard-hearted oppressor should at 
once cease his grievous oppressions, that that so much 
degraded head should again be "righted up" into the 
noble and " God-like intellectual " image in which its 
Maker formed it. 

It is surely admitted, that long and heavy oppressions 
will give both the mind and the body a gloomy, down- 
cast, and degraded appearance. But if this be so even 
externally, how must that immortal soul, which no 
mortal eye can perceive, be morally degraded, and all 
its vast powers wantonly crushed and prostrated. So 
much for the objection to some men being freemen on 
account of the shape of their heads ! ! I 



ILLUSTRATED. 237 

This objection to free discussion and to all men being 
freemen, (if you will allow the simplicity of the compari- 
son,) I should think (as the little child said) is about as 
large as a " piece of chalk." Indeed, were we to extend 
and carry out all these ridiculous, not to say criminal, 
caprices and prejudices against individuals, we ought at 
once, were it practicable, to lay out this little globe into 
very small spots of earth upon which to colonize every 
person in the whole world apart from all others, in ac- 
cordance with the real or supposed laws of phrenology, 
physiology, physiognomy, &c. &c. 

To imagine the plan complete, we might fancy to 
ourselves a little island for every individual on the 
globe ; for every human being is, to a great extent, 
more or less, the creature of habit, taste, prejudice, and 
circumstance. For instance, some fancy one sort of 
person, and some another. Some fancy large, some 
small, and some a medium stature. Some fancy black, 
some gray, and some blue eyes. Some fancy black, 
some brown, some light, and some red hair. Indeed, 
nothing is more common than to find persons in the 
same, and in every community, with as many and di- 
versified tastes in all these and nameless other particu- 
lars, as there are features and complexions among the 
people. This we all believe to be a wise and benefi- 
cent arrangement in creation. 

But one thing is very happy for us all in a free coun- 
try, (which is a kind of saving clause,) that none need 
ever to »« amalgamate" any of these diversity of tastes, 
except from their own voluntary choice. And we all, 
as freemen, would at once say, that almost any lawful 
voluntary choice would be likely to conduce more to 



238 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

our happiness than even the most " modified " state of 
involuntary slavery. To this, doubtless, every heart 
responds. 

But one fact alone ought to settle the question, 
whether coloured people originally, under like circum- 
stances, were not fully equal to uncoloured; and forever 
to put to silence those uncoloured people who are always 
vaunting themselves in their own conceits of intellectual 
superiority over coloured people. Authentic history 
clearly traces the origin of this long outraged and op- 
pressed people back, and finds them to be the ancient 
Egyptians, who were then the most learned and accom- 
plished people on the globe. What historian does not 
know that Egypt and Ethiopia were the instructers of 
Greece and Rome? Our very " narrowly contracted" 
prejudices, by which we are so prone to gauge their in- 
tellect, arising from our various associations with their 
long-degraded state in slavery, and also that mental in- 
dolence and dormancy which are the necessary attend- 
ants of a state of abject slavery, are surely not only 
incorrect, but very unfair or disingenuous criterions by 
which to judge. There are no inducements in a state 
of slavery, even if the means were not tyrannically de- 
nied, to unfold, and to bring into requisition the vast 
powers of the immortal mind of beings "created but 
a little lower than the angels." This desire of invidious 
distinctions has its legitimate and full force among 
people of all colours ; all circumstances being equal. 

We are all too prone to measure the intellect and the 
wisdom of uncoloured as well as coloured people from 
their exalted or their obscure station in society. Behold 
that poor man in community, for example, whose wis^ 



ILLUSTRATED. 239 

dom or intellect no one, perhaps, ever thought of eulo- 
gizing. Let him, by " fortune's freak," be suddenly 
exalted to great wealth, and throw around him a splen- 
dour, and a diffusion of his bounty, that should far 
eclipse his neighbours, — all, at once, are lavish in his 
praise, and ready to bow down, and to do the same 
abject reverence, that but yesterday was passed by, 
either with contempt or entirely unnoticed. And also, 
when the great and the mighty ones of earth fall, we 
hear the expression by way of scorn and triumph, " / 
thought it would be so!!" These things, in large com- 
munities, where changes in men's circumstances are 
frequent, are matters of every- day occurrence, and 
therefore excite little attention or surprise. But they 
show poor "debased, morally darkened, and weak" 
human nature ; and upon what principle we are all 
prone to judge of the wisdom of men. 

Men are naturally aristocrats, and love to court the 
favour of the strong and the powerful. I think the in- 
fluence of this important principle of action in human 
nature should be clearly understood, and I would be 
glad if I could, to bring it out fully to view. Who, that 
has mingled to much extent with the various, real, or 
fancied gradations in human society, could scarcely have 
failed to observe, that the same "accursed" spirit of 
caste, arising from a desire of invidious distinctions 
among our "fellow-worms," " called free and while," 
only in a less degree, (owing to a variety of modifying 
circumstances,) to that which so universally prevails 
against our enslaved and coloured fellow-countrymen? 
Who does not see this, to the shame of communities 
called Christian 1 White domestics of superior moral, 



240 LIREBTY AND SLAVERY 

and sometimes too of intellectual worth, are often treated 
by families with the same manner of marked inferiority 
as blacks are treated. 

Says Mrs. Scornful, / will never have a maid-servant 
in my house, who should dare presume to intimate to me, 
that she even wished to eat with me at my table, on any 
occasion — to dress as well as /do at any time, or to walk 
with me, or sit with me in church. Still, the same Mrs. 
Scornful says, she will treat her " maid-servants " well, 
[{they will keep in their "proper places. 1 '' There was no 
prejudice in this case in the mind of Mrs. Scornful 
against the dark coloured skin of her poor maid-servant, 
for it was much lighter than her own. Neither could 
there have been any just plea of inferiority on the score 
of moral or intellectual worth, for in both of these also, the 
girl was known to be much superior to Mrs. Scornful her- 
self. The ill effect of such a course of treatment of this 
highly important and valuable class of people, is at once 
made obvious, by contrasting the habits of the farming 
population of a country with that of its towns and cities. 
Among the latter, where domestics, regardless of colour, 
are studiously kept at a great social distance from their 
employers, it is almost universally proverbial, that they 
are untrust worthy ; but, among the former, where hired 
domestics are generally treated as members of the family 
in which they reside, such a complaint is seldom heard 
of. " He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a 
child, shall have him become his son at the length." — 
Prov. xxix. 21. But aye! murmurs the "dark proud 
demon of caste," this is what I fear. 

Now, this state of things, even carried to the aristo- 
cratic and unwarrantable extent which this case presents, 



ILLUSTRATED. 241 

as bad and as wicked as it is, and repugnant as it is, 
both to republicanism and to the spirit of pure and unde- 
nted Christianity, bears no comparison whatever to 
southern slavery; where the most tender ties are con- 
tinually severed, and the nearest and dearest friends and 
relatives on earth are constantly torn asunder, and sold 
under the " hammer of the auctioneer," as goods, wares, 
and merchandise. 

All who are not absolute slaves, can, and often do 
demand their wages when not well treated, and at once 
change their residences. But not so with the poor 
bound slave for life. He cannot demand his wages, 
his wife, or his children, or change his residence ; for 
should he even intimate that he desired to do so, he 
would probably, in most cases, receive a severe casti- 
gation for it. It is true, the residences of slaves are 
often changed, but upon a very different principle than 
that upon which the residences of freemen are changed, 
which is to pursue their own happiness in their own 
way. 

A very bad master, by way of punishment and ma- 
lignant revenge, often sells the poor creatures to much 
worse and more cruel ones. Now, while I would hold 
to, and strictly inculcate all fidelity of service to one an- 
other in every condition of life, I have alluded to this 
treatment of white domestics, which, when carried to 
this extent, I regard as wrong, anti-christian, and anti- 
republican ; but I have named these too prevalent prac- 
tices, not so much, however, to reprove them in this 
place, which would be travelling somewhat out of my 
latitude in such a work as this, as to prove by these 
hings that people who think they are prejudiced against 

21 



242 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

a dark coloured skin, as a colour merely, are altogether 
mistaken. Tbeassociation, from their very infancy of 
such horrible ideas has deceived them. It is against 
condition, or degradation, or 'poverty, that the prejudice 
lies, and not against the colour of the skin, only in the 
same sense, that it might be under other circumstances, 
against the colour of the apparel. We merely regard 
the colour of the skin as a " mark " with which we asso- 
ciate in the mind the idea of degradation — against 
which degradation we are prejudiced, or to which we 
are opposed. Who does not know, that when he be- 
comes prejudiced for any cause, either in favour or 
against any body of people, that he is also very prone to 
view every one belonging to that body through this 
medium 2 

Suppose, for instance, that two nations, one of blue 
coats, and the other of red coats, become highly incensed 
against each other, will not this singular prejudice mutu- 
ally attach itself accordingly 1 But who pretends to say 
it is against the particular colours of their coats, as colours 
merely? This subject will yet be viewed in a far differ- 
ent light from that in which it is now seen, owing to our 
present haughty, prejudiced, or beclouded vision. I 
have found that it seems to make very little difference 
what particular marks we may in our caprice regard as 
marks of degradation, whether it be the colour of the 
skin, the colour or the texture of the apparel, or the par- 
ticular style of equipage. 

It is quite enough for our purpose just to conjure up 
in our fanciful imaginations some particular marks to be 
marks or signs of inferiority or degradation, and all hap- 
pening to have such marks upon them, or about them, 



ILLUSTRATED. 243 

we are very prone to decline equal associations with, 
lest perchance it might derogate from our fancied supe- 
rior dignity and importance in the world's estimation. 
We are naturally almost as ready to avoid such, as we 
would be persons with some infectious disease. We 
can however associate with them very freely as Jack, 
or Jim, or Joe ; or Peggy, or Betty, or Molly, as with pet 
domestic animals; but not as Mr., or Mrs., or Miss. 
Now I regard all prefixed titles as altogether unimport- 
ant in themselves ; but when we use them in some cases 
as a mark of intended respect, and omit them in others 
as a mark of disrespect, we see in it as far as it goes the 
very spirit of slaveholding, for the direct object of the 
practice is, to make others feel inferior to ourselves. 
When. I came into this country, said an emigrant, I 
brought several hundred dollars in gold with me, and 
while it lasted, the Yankees very politely called me J\lr. 

but now it is gone, they call me " old uncle Joe ! n 

Indeed, who does not know that mere words of them- 
selves are altogether arbitrary, and that the very sound 
of some which might ravish our ears by their peculiarly 
happy and delightful associations to us, might to others, 
being connected in their minds with an entirely different 
order and character of associations, be equally as abhor- 
rent and revolting; totally regardless of the term we se- 
lect, whether it be that of republican, patriot, or even 
Christian 1 The good mother for instance, who display- 
ed so much ingenuity and tact in naming her dear chil- 
dren, that she could call over their names with fluenoy 
in the presence of company somewhat in the following 
manner, " You Martha Washington, come here this 
moment, and mind Andrew Jackson and William 



244 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

Shakspeare, while Arthur Wellington helps Napoleon 
Bonaparte, &c. would perhaps nearly as soon have 
buried one of them as to have named it Benedict Arnold, 
or Jack, or Sambo; yet what unprejudiced philosophical 
elocutionist ean discover any more respectability, or 
hear any more music in the mere words Andrew Jack- 
son, or Bonaparte, than in the words simply Arnold, 
Jack, or Sambo? 

This same principle in human nature satisfactorily 
accounts for the anomaly that some people " ca'nt bear 
Vifree coloured person about them;" but after he is tyran- 
nically reduced to a helpless menial slave under their 
feet, O then my boy (or slave) Tom, (a venerable 
man, 60 years old) is a very fine clever fellow, and I 
would not part with him for a thousand dollars. He is 
the best coachman, or the best house or field servant I 
ever owned, and will then often fawn about them as they 
would any other " domestic animal." Such deep, bland, 
and wicked hypocrisy is enough to sink a nation in 
ruin, and probably will sink this nation by the righteous 
judgements of Heaven, unless repented of and put away 
from us forever. The universal custom of slaveholders 
using the puerile term " boy," when addressing their 
male slaves from the child to the venerable gray-headed 
man, is very easily seen through. It is a kind of inter- 
mediate term between man and slave. 

Slaveholders avoid the use of the term slave, because 
it is annoying to their own conscious guilt, that it is 
wrong for man to hold his fellow man as a slave. They 
also entrely avoid the use of the term man, as applicable 
to an article which they call their property, because it 
would be, as they well suppose, a dangerous admission 



ILLUSTRATED. 245 

to the slave that he is indeed a man, and should enjoy 
all the equal and inalienable rights of man, of pursuing his 
own happiness in his own way, even like unto his assumed 
tyrannical and lordly master ; and that it would also offend 
those proud and haughty feelings of fancied superiority 
of the tyrant, which is engendered, fostered, and con- 
stantly kept up under this accursed system of usurpation 
and tyranny over our fellow man, in contradistinction to 
the servile degradation of the poor oppressed and down- 
trodden slave. The power and spirit of this same kind 
of " tyranny of prejudice " was most strikingly exem- 
plified by an educated Turkish gentleman travelling 
through this country a short time since. He had travel- 
led much, and observed much of men and things. Still 
the views he entertained both of the Turkish men and 
Turkish women, show at once to all unprejudiced per- 
sons on that subject, how strangely even the most culti- 
vated and enlightened minds on some subjects, may still 
bo governed in many things entirely by an ungrounded, 
false, capricious, and often very criminal and cruel pre- 
judice. He held that the Turkish men were altogether 
superior to any other men on the earth ; while his most 
deliberate opinion was, that the Turkish women were de- 
cidedly the most inferior, by nature of their sex. 

Who cannot see, that both of these opinions, though 
totally false and groundless, might still have been very 
naturally entertained by this Turk, from the fact, that he 
was taught to believe and to feel, that the Turkish men 
were born to be lords over their female slaves ; and also 
from the fact, that the Turkish females had always been 
seen by him in a sunken, degraded state ; without in- 
telligence, and consequently, without influence. Did 

21* 



246 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

this haughty Turk live among us, would not both the 
men and the women of our country, endeavour to teach 
him an entire new lesson on this subject, even as we all 
should endeavour to correct the haughty views of slave- 
holders, and pro-slavites, in regard to two and a half 
millions of our down-trodden and oppressed fellow- 
countrymen? Do we not, moreover, see this same bias, 
more or less perverting the judgements of all people, from 
various causes, throughout every department of human 
life 1 And does it not arise, and is it not disingenuously 
cherished, from that pride of life, and that love of invid- 
ious distinction, so prone to human nature, and to which 
men too often aspire, by altogether unwarrantable, cruel, 
and wicked means 1 

But, suppose the Africans actually to be an inferior 
race of people to ourselves, [which, however, remains yet 
to be proved,) would this give us a right to enslave 
them ? Far from it ! Surely the strong ought to bear 
with the weak ! Upon that principle, Myron Holley, 
Esqr., has well remarked, that " every nation on earth, 
but one, might be rightfully enslaved." Slaveholders 
and their children, omit no opportunity, from the nur- 
sery up, to rob the slave children of their inborn rights, 
to humble them, break them down, and make them feel 
that they must not own the most trivial thing, much less 
themselves. This is slavery ; and, reader, how would 
you like it 1 Does the kind and judicious parent, suf- 
fer his stronger children to enslave the weaker 1 By 
no means, — but enjoins upon them all, to protect each 
other's equal and inalienable rights, as given to them, 
not by an earthly parent, but by the Great Parent of all. 
Nay, more! a judicious parent will cheerfully grant his 



ILLUSTRATED. 247 

aid, where most needed. We all know that this is a 
wholesome, just, and republican doctrine, not only for 
the treatment of families, but for the whole world of 
mankind ; and we equally as well know, that the doc- 
trine of absolute despots, or slaveholders, is, that of 
" power and might, over weakness and right ;" a doc- 
trine which, if suffered to prevail universally, would 
quickly enslave the whole human race, to the mere arbi- 
trary will of some one earthly tyrant. Will freemen of 
our dear country, behold, in time, the bold and fearful 
strides of this doctrine, which slaveholding is making 
among us? This same principle of " expediency," in 
the sense in which it is practised, in relation to the slave, 
which is supreme and unmixed selfishness, on the part 
of a slaveholding nation, has always, and, probably, (as 
long as the world shall remain as it is,) always will be 
practised in the world, upon the same principle, and ulti- 
mately to the same extent, (providing no reform, or rev- 
olution shall ever take place,) with all dominant political 
parties, without regard to colour or name ; for the ever- 
aspiring ambition, and the cupidity of man, know neither 
colour, bounds, nor circumstances. We see, too, this 
unhallowed power, in all unions of church and state, 
where all must bow down, and pay it tribute, and do it 
reverence ! It is, therefore, both a Roman and a Chris- 
tian virtue, to stand up against it, and by the power of 
truth, argument, and consistent action, in all proper 
ways, manfully resist all unwarrantable encroachments 
upon individual and equal rights, irrespective of party, 
creed, sect, colour, or condition. And, whoever will not 
do this, should he not be regarded with a jealous eye, as 
fitting and paving the way, so far ar his positive or neg- 



248 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

ative influence can do it, for himself and others to be en- 
slaved ? Has not this ever been known to be the result 
of unhallowed, individual, or party ambition for power, 
when not timely and suitably checked by counteracting 
influences ? These charges are equally applicable to all 
parties in power ; of whatever name, in whatever age, 
or country. 

The doctrine of equal rights, and the doctrine of Cal- 
houn and his associates ; of the right of capitalists to 
own, and to buy, and sell all the labouring class, re- 
semble each other, just as light resembles darkness, or 
freedom, slavery. 



SECTION XVI. 

"I AMOPPOSED TOTHEDISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BECAUSE 
IT IS A RELIGIOUS OR SECTARIAN MATTER." 

This objection has been sometimes made. It is true, 
that the subject of slavery is one, which at once involves 
all the moral, as well as the civil rights of man, and 
therefore, must be considered just as it is ; both a moral 
and a political subject. When I say " political," how- 
ever, let me not be misunderstood. The whole nation 
are under the highest possible moral obligation, to abol- 
ish their slavery, politically, just so far as they can do so 
constitutionally. I do not mean politically, on mere party 
grounds, but in the same sense, that the American revo- 
lution might have been considered a political movement, 
in behalf of all the rights of man. 

But whoever thought of opposing the cause of the 
American revolution, because Washington, the venerated 
father of our country, considered it a sacred cause, and 
was often found in prayer, commending it to HIM who 
holds the destinies of individuals, and of nations, in his 
hands 1 

Had men acted thus in those trying times, where now 
would have been our liberties t The cause of emanci- 
pation, is emphatically the cause of human rights, in every 
possible sense ; for the enslaved are deprived not only of 
all the rights common to man, but the "great centre 
right " of all rights, the right to themselves. Even that 



250 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

last right of mortals of humble supplication to God, or 
to his " brother man" to take off his galling chains, 
soothe his wounds, and restore to him his stolen wife 
and children, is peremptorily denied him by his master, 
and by this nation, and he is now doomed to endure his 
woes in solitude, in the great prison house of slavery, 
as was decided by the " slaveholders " vote in the Ame- 
rican Congress of 1837, that the poor slave had no right 
of petition for any relief in any possible case whatever. 
And, as if to doom the poor slave to eternal bondage, 
the servants of "the sovereign people" have just said, 
that the people shall nofpetition for him. All this, in- 
deed, only goes to show how exceedingly low in degra- 
dation and ruin we have sunk this wretched people. 
They are trodden quite beneath the sympathies of the 
nation, unmanned and brutalized. " Even the dog," 
said the Hon. John Quincy Adams, " can implore his 
master, but the slave must not." This was a time when 
an American ex-president, on the floor of Congress, 
literally wept over the great wrongs and oppressions of 
the nation. Who cannot see that " coming events cast 
their shadows before them?" I mean by this, that the 
bond and the free are most assuredly inseparably bound 
together in one destiny in this nation. Whether that 
destiny be slavery for all, or freedom for all, the future 
alone must disclose. Wherein consists the difference 
in this nation, this moment, between the men called 
slaves, and the men called free, in regard to that great 
first right of all people, of humbly entreating their 
" rulers," by way of prayer, or petition, to remove evils, 
or in the least degree to mitigate their grievances ? 
Why, the men called slaves, must not even write a 



ILLUSTRATED. 251 

prayer to their rulers for any relief from oppression 
whatever. The men called free, may write a prayer, 
carry it silently in their pocket, even within the walls of 
the capitol, and are then most graciously permitted, in 
the amazing condescension of their rulers, respectfully 
to lay their prayer on a certain table which the " gentle- 
men," whom the people permit to occupy that house, 
have provided, principally for the depository of useless 
papers, considered not worth their time to read. Now, 
to discriminate between the difference in this treatment 
to people called slaves, and that to people called free, I 
should think it would need some improved instrument 
of far greater magnifying powers than the one lately said 
to have been invented, and to have made such wonder- 
ful discoveries in the moon. As to the cause of eman- 
cipation being sectarian, it cannot be so ; for persons of 
all denominations, and many of no denomination, are 
most cordially and mutually engaged in it, as one com- 
mon cause, for all the friends and advocates of free- 
dom and philanthropy in the land. And if religions 
people feel disposed to make it more a subject of moral 
than of political rights, what objection can any one rea- 
sonably have ? It is, moreover, a sacred religious duty, 
whenever we do act politically to do so for the best good 
of mankind. We should most certainly think, that reli- 
gious people, especially those who are in favour of mis- 
sionary efforts, to convert the heathen to Christ, of all 
others, (to be at all consistent with themselves,) ought 
to be the greatest abolitionists in the world, when we 
know that many of the better informed and more shrewd 
heathen, are constantly retorting upon our missionaries, 
with this most painful and cutting rebuke to every Ame- 



252 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

rican believer, in the benevolent and divine character of 
our blessed Saviour. " If we enlist under your Christ," 
says the heathen, to American professed Christian mis- 
sionaries, " we are afraid he will make us all slaves." 

What American minister of Christ, knowing what 
American slavery is, and will not testify loudly against it, 
must not stand justly convicted, of at least a negative 
influence, of greatly retarding the universal spread of the 
Gospel? 

That great and noble philanthrophist, George Thom- 
son, Esq. of England, whose name, in all future time, 
will be justly enrolled among the most distinguished 
champions of human rights the world affords, has said 
that he considered himself acting for the world at large ; 
and that he regarded American slavery as one of the 
greatest barriers on the earth to the universal diffusion 
of free principles and the gospel of Christ. And indeed, 
what impartial eye that takes in the globe, must not so 
regard it 1 For while as a nation of politicians, we have 
long been loudly and ostentatiously boasting that we 
were the freest people on earth, two and a half millions 
of our innocent fellow-countrymen, or one sixth part of 
our entire population, have been loaded down with 
chains, forged with our own hands ! ! And while as a 
nation of professed Christians, we have nominally been 
thanking our God that we were not as other nations; 
that we were exalted unto Heaven with religious bles- 
sings ; that we were not bowing down to stocks and to 
stones, gods made with our own hands ; but that our 
religion was the true religion, was the purest and the 
most holy of all religions ; yes, while we have claimed 
in the view of Heaven and earth this most distinguished 



ILLUSTRATED. 253 

pre-eminence, in the mean time we have virtually been 
inviting the nations to gaze, as they have done, upon the 
broad and dark suspicious mark upon our religion, until 
they are now ready lo say to us, — notwithstanding your 
long and loud professions, " what do ye more than 
others ?" " First take the beam from thine own eye, that 
ye may see the more clearly, to take the mote from thy 
brother's eye." 

In view of facts and of the opinions of all the civilized 
world, respecting American slavery, which I have been 
able to gather, were I to attempt to name the particular 
ratio, which American influence, moral and political, is 
lessened in the world, in consequence of our being to so 
great an extent a slaveholding nation, I should put it at 
least 75 per cent. 

If we are shocked when we hear that an actual 
heathen and barbarous people abroad, sometimes kill 
and eat our missionaries sent to them, would not even 
such barbarians be still more shocked to hear that the 
people in the country whence these missionaries came, 
when their slaves try to break their chains and obtain 
their liberty, sometimes consume them alive by a slow 
fire; and that they often actually make deliberate pecu- 
niary calculations, that it is more profitable to work their 
slaves to death in " seven years," (" when sugar, cotton, 
and rice, bear a good price, and they have heavy con- 
tracts to fulfill,") than to treat them any more lenient 
that they might endure a longer time ; and that many of 
the American born men and women, to get beyond the 
reach of this American republicanism and American 
Christianity, have put an end to their own existence ; and 
many others have adroitly secreted themselves for years 

22 



254 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

in caves and dens in the day-time, and worked nights for 
something to eat, for some who would thus befriend 
them. And is it much to be wondered at, if the foreign 
" heathen," do indeed call us " Christian dogs?" Now, 
will not all who are looking forward, and desiring 
that the whole world should soon be governed by none 
but a happy Christian influence, greatly deplore the ex- 
istence of all such hindrances, and readily and most 
cheerfully contribute whatever of moral influence they 
possess to remove them? 

While American slavery has ever been a most base 
and cruel libel upon the Christian religion, and while its 
professed friends have practically been inducing the 
world to believe the libel true, and while we have been 
labouring and praying to convert the heathen to our re- 
ligion, we have virtually been challenging their scorn 
and contempt of it. And have we not great cause to 
fear that for all this, our hypocrisy, we shall yet be re- 
warded, not according to our words or our formal pray- 
ers, but according to our works I Would it not be well 
for us as a nation, timely to remember, that God is not 
mocked with impunity? Even some southern slave- 
holding politicians themselves, who make no preten- 
sions to religion, most powerfully rebuke professed 
Christians, who either assume the attitude of opposition, 
or even neutrality on this subject of responsibilities so 
immense. Mr. Rives, in the senate of the United 
States, in his remarks on anti-slavery petitions to con- 
gress, admitted slavery to be a moral and a political 
evil. Mr. Calhoun, in his reply, told Mr. Rives, if he 
so regarded it, he was bound as a good man, to do 
every thing in his power to procure its abolishment. So 



ILLUSTRATED. 255 

think abolitionists. But Mr. Calhoun has made greater 
progress in the science of human freedom than Mr. 
Rives ; for he says he has recently discovered, that 
slavery is the best kind of freedom. But Mr. Calhoun, 
after all, probably means only that it suits the interest 
and gratifies the tyrannical feelings of the/eu-, more to 
enslave the many. 

And again, there are those who discuss the subject of 
slavery, on the ground of civil rights only. And surely, 
it would ill-become religious people to oppose this class 
of anti-slavery men, as all other rights are secured to 
us by our proper civil rights. There are champion-, of 
civil liberty merely, who are deserving high praise. I 
heard one individual say, it certainly rnu^t be sectarian, 
because all presbyterians, as he said, were abolitionists. 
For the honour and the purity of that body, in my heart 
I Irish this were so. But so far from it, it is the lament- 
able fact that the advocates and apologists for slavery, 
in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
in 1837, applied the keen but cruel excision knife indis- 
criminately, to all the northern "rotten branches" of 
this "strange vine" that they supposed to be in the 
least infected with the fanatical doctrine, that all men 
ought to enjoy the inalienable rights with which their 
benevolent Creator first blessed them, under the very 
plausible pretext of new measures — heterodoxy of sen- 
timents, and of its being a sacred duty, as good presby- 
terians, to abrogate all plans of union, recognised by 
common consent, "time immemorial." 

American slavery was the dark and moving cause 
that produced this exparte trial — this unconstitutional 
ecclesiastical Guillotine. And whether this bodv is Ion? 



256 LIBERTY AND- SLAVERY 

to be governed by the slaveholding spirit of darkness* 
or the benign spirit of Christ, time and other General 
Assemblies will determine. 

I can call the act of the Assembly of 1837, by no 
softer name than the one here ascribed to it. Every 
such despotic act in church or in state, tends only to 
open the eyes of the people, to the very nature and de- 
mands of despotism, upon whatever hypocritical or plau- 
sible pretense they may be predicated. Men, who are 
sometimes ashamed to avow their real motives of action, 
are adepts at assuming very plausible apparent ones. 
Disguise this act as it may be, it is slavery still ; and 
was nothing but the same southern and northern dark 
pro-slavery spirit which produced it, that expelled the 
poor coloured man and his family from their church, for 
daring to purchase a pew in the house of God, in order 
to occupy it to hear the gospel preached. 

And is it not to be feared, that there may be some 
pro- slavery men in the excinded "rotten branches," who 
will yet make an effort to re-unite, to perpetuate slav- 
ery in that body, and in our country 1 But let us forbear 
to complain too much ; for if we take the side of the op- 
pressed, we must " remember them who are in bonds, as 
bound with them," and place our souls in their soul's 
stead, and expect to suffer with them, and to be oppress- 
ed also. 

One Rev. brother said, he did not believe in getting 
up these " irresponsible societies " for the discussion of 
slavery, or for any thing else. His meaning was, I sup- 
pose, that every society should be strictly amenable to 
some ecclesiastical body. 

Do not political parties, on the same ground, often 



ILLUSTRATED. 257 

oppose free discussion and societies, as if the people 
were accountable to them also? Now while I would 
ever preserve a due regard for " pure and undefiled re- 
ligion," and for a holy and consistent ministry, I still 
believe it to be our duty to our fellow-men, and to our 
country, as well as to the church, to say that this jeal- 
ousy of the nominal church of " irresponsible " socie- 
ties, (as some ecclesiastical bodies have been pleased 
to denominate them,) has been most in exercise ac- 
cording to her past history, while in her most worldly, 
ambitious, and corrupt state. 

Innocence and purity have generally been " unsus- 
pecting." Is it not to be feared, that there is more 
"unholy" than holy jealousy in all this? This good 
brother also said, he believed in preaching the gospel, 
to be a remedy for all moral evils. So do all believers 
in the gospel. 

And if men, called ministers of this gospel, will not 
fully preach it, "but keep back part of the price" to 
please men; men called laymen must do it, or wo is 
unto them. Slaveholders too, while whipping, robbing, 
and selling their fellow-men like cattle, profanely hold 
up the sacred volume, and impiously say, " here is my 
warrant for such conduct." 

What a pity that the gospel was not preached in this 
country long before temperance societies were thought 
of; when intemperance was sweeping its thousands of 
the world, of the nominal church, and even some pro- 
fessed ministers of this gospel, into an untimely grave ! ! 
What a pity too, that the gospel for more than half a 
century before these *>. modern abolitionists " were 
known as such, could not have been preached at the 

22* 



258 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

south, while millions of wretched beings have been 
groaning under their heavy chains of " Christian love, 
and pure benevolence" in midnight moral darkness, 
and physical degradation, lingering out a wretched ex- 
istence, and dying without hope, in a far-famed, nom- 
inally Christian land, and without even an offer of Christ 
and salvation. 

But we suppose in both of these cases, the gospel 
may have been literally preached, or as some people 
oppose slavery, in the " abstract" but by no means has 
it been preached as Nathan preached to David — " Thou 
art the man." 

It has been preached in a way to suit the oppressor, 
but not the God of the oppressed. 

I always supposed that political parlies and ecclesias- 
tical bodies, had their own peculiar reasons for opposing 
what they were pleased to denominate " irresponsible " 
societies. But the " dear people " will sometimes be 
refractory, and dare to act like rational freemen. And 
further, (for plainness, with kindness of speech, be- 
comes either professed Christians, or professed republi- 
cans,) just so far as my observation has extended on 
this point, those Ministers and Christians, who oppose 
abolition societies, on the ground that it is the peculiar 
prerogative of the church, and the church only, to do 
away all moral evils ; while this doctrine looks well in 
theory, and while I do not feel disposed to contest it 
here, (provided, however, that it be understood that it is 
certain, that every branch of the nominal church, be a 
living branch of the living vine,) still it is somewhat 
marvellous to behold, that these are the very same per- 
sons, who, while they freely admit slavery to be "a 



ILLUSTRATED. 259 1 

great sin, and a great evil," in the mean time are dis- 
obeying God, by not opening their mouths for the op- 
pressed and the dumb, either in the church, or out of it, 
but are constantly opposing the true and consistent 
friends of the slave. 

I once had the pleasure of hearing a discourse from 
Mark xii. 17. " Render unto Caesar the things which 
are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's." 
However foreign the text, to any such purpose, the ob- 
ject of the speaker was to prove the unlawfulness, or 
impropriety of members of churches, being members of 
the "voluntary" associations of the day, however good 
their motives, or their objects. He was understood to 
mean, those associations only, which have for their 
object, the abolition of intemperance, the abolition of 
licentiousness, and the abolition of slavery, for I had 
always supposed that in this " free country," all who 
become members of Christian churches even, do so vol- 
untarily. 

And so long as we are blessed with the full enjoy- 
ment of our inalienable, civil, as well as religious, rights 
of conscience, it must always remain so. The admis- 
sion was fairly and honourably made by the speaker,, 
that as it regarded other "voluntary" associations of 
the day, he had no particular objection to them, because 
he believed their objects were good, and their iendency r 
to promote the gospel. He named the Tract, Sabbath 
School, and Bible Society. 

In what light, thought I, can this capricious partiality 
be regarded, but that of indirectly impugning the motives 
of all the members of the three excepted "voluntary" 
associations, out of the many in the world ? 



260 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

When the Bible Society was named, it reminded me 
of the course which the different denominations of Chris- 
tians respectively have deemed it proper to adopt at dif- 
ferent past periods to circulate the volume of divine in- 
spiration, which, if done in the spirit of the gospel, I do 
not consider to be at all inconsistent with the speaker's 
most admirable late Premium Work on " Religious 
Dissensions ;" for any toleration short of this freedom 
would be an abridgement of the inalienable liberties of 
conscience, the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE 
of all free governments. I believe this is the doctrine 
and only this, which all true Americans have ever de- 
lighted to honour, and admitted to be in accordance with 
the primary principles and spirit of their free and repub- 
lican institutions. The various denominations of Chris- 
tians have a right to act in concert in the American Bible 
Society, and they have an equal right to act separately 
or as churches — in precisely the same sense, and in no 
other that I can possibly conceive, that the friends of the 
oppressed and of rational freedom have a right to act. 

In his making this, as I thought rather invidious dis- 
tinction among " voluntary associations," as all the so- 
cieties in the world, not excepting nominal churches, as 
they are not compelled (as the poor slave is to his task) 
thus to associate, must of course be " votuntary ;" a 
query arose in my mind, that if it be consistent for us to 
assume the high and sacred office of the arbiter of mo- 
tives and of conscience over owe. class of men, why not 
over all? and whether it be a justifiable partiality, at 
once to conclude, that because A may have assumed a 
better sounding name to our fastidious ear than B, there- 
fore his motives must be purer, and the tendency of his 



ILLUSTRATED. 261 

conduct more salutary? Though the speaker appeared 
to be a man of an " excellent spirit," and of fair talents, 
yet he seemed, I thought, in this matter, to be much be- 
wildered, and evidently betrayed fearful apprehensions, 
either that he could not reach his subject, or that his pre- 
mises after all might prove treacherous. Indeed he 
more than once frankly admitted the attempt to be, both 
a " difficult and a hazardous " one. On this point, 
could the truth have been known, I have little doubt 
most of the respectable audience symyathized with the 
speaker, and cordially agreed with him. I endeavoured 
to listen to all the discourse, with candour, attention, and 
impartiality, but was still entirely unable to reconcile 
either the premises with the superstructure, or the in- 
congruities of various parts of the superstructure itself 
with one another; or, in other language, a number of his 
conclusions appeared to me to be altogether un- 
natural and forced deductions. In the first place the 
speaker professed a great desire for the entire accom- 
plishment of the great and glorious objects " which he 
verily believed these voluntary associations " honestly 
had in view, and would go as far " in his way " to bring 
about these great, and greatly desirable ends, as any 
other man. I presume before the close of his " hazard- 
ous undertaking " the audience was willing to concede 
this, for his discourse was considerably interlarded with 
brilliant flights of eloquence of solemn asseverations to 
this effect. He very freely admitted that these " volun- 
tary " associations had already accomplished much good, 
and might still more ; in creating a correct public senti- 
ment in regard to the great evils they proposed to banish 
from the land by the weight of enlightened public opinion. 



262 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

But as the opposers of temperance sometimes used to 
say, " it will do no good if you do prevail upon drinking 
men to lay aside their cups, for they will only take to 
some other bad habits in the room of their drinking ; the 
speaker in the next sentence defeated all the good results 
he had so much encouraged us to hope was about to be 
effected in the world from these several ** voluntary " as- 
sociations, by asserting that on the whole, finally, he had 
never known any good accomplished by " voluntary 
associations." 

To use the speaker's own language, " they had 
merely effected a modification of the evils, but not a 
diminution ;" — that when these " voluntary " associ- 
ations became " strong and popular," they degenerated 
into something as bad, or even worse than the evils they 
proposed to abolish. He then undertook to prove that 
the nominal church was the only engine of sufficient 
power to abolish, and completely exterminate all the 
evils of earth, and bring on the glorious millenial morn. 
But before he had done dealing with the church, I really 
felt as though he was more severe upon her if possible, 
than he was upon " voluntary " associations themselves ; 
for he repeatedly said, that great numbers were con- 
stantly flocking into the church, " from fashion," or 
from the force of public opinion. He also quoted dif- 
ferent periods of the church when she had become pop- 
ular, and kings and princes had become her patrons ; 
and hordes of unconverted Pagans rallied around her 
standard, and she at once became the great fountain 
of moral and political corruption in herself and to the 
whole world. Here I could not avoid feeling somewhat 
pained that the speaker, as I suppose, inadvertently 



ILLUSTRATED. 263 

omitted to draw a line of demarkation between the 
nominal and the invisible church ; for an unbeliever in the 
invisible church, I thought by this time might well begin 
to despair of salvation from any quarter. And here too, 
while I was made by the eloquence of the speaker to be- 
hold to the life, these immense hordes of unconverted 
barbarians, rallying around the standard of the cross, 
and thus corrupting the church, and the whole world, I 
could but inquire of myself how many hundred poor 
slaves, with their handcuffs, clanking chains, and drivers, 
each unconverted barbarian, probably brought along 
with him to pollute the sacred altar ! ! And if none at 
all, how much more corrupt must the southern church 
be (which some pro-slavery branches at the north still 
" hug so closely ") than was the Roman church. This 
to me at the time actually appeared to be a matter which 
almost admitted of mathematical demonstration. One 
broad admission of the speaker proved I think a good deal 
more, than he was fully aware of. He had been saying 
that he did himself belong to some of these " voluntary " 
associations ; that he had given addresses, and laboured 
much to promote them ; and that on the whole they had 
accomplished a vast amount of good in the world, and 
his reason for going against them " all at once " was, 
that they had now begun to throw the church itself into 
the back ground ; and there was danger therefore that 
soon church members would have to go up to some of 
" the great conventions " of these " voluntary " asocia- 
tions to find out what to do. Now if all this proves any 
thing at all, what does it prove ? Suppose an unpreju- 
diced and purely benevolent spirit were to descend from 
on high, knowing not the names of the various associa- 



264 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

tions of earth, either " voluntary " or " involuntary," 
what spot, than where the most good ivas doing, would 
the angelic messenger hover around with more com- 
placency and delight. Though a layman, I have com- 
pared ecclesiastical history with the " law and the testi- 
mony " with some care, and have yet to learn, that the 
mere nominal church, has not in past periods, and may 
not again and again, become so corrupt that it will be 
scattered to the four winds with a blight from heaven, 
and elements of purity be preserved out of its nominal 
ruins. 

Has not this often been done, in spite of all the powers 
of earth and hell, to control the nominal church, by giv- 
ing the ark of the Lord an unhallowed touch ? Hence 
the solemn question comes up, in the nineteenth century 
■of the christian era, " Which has most cause for alarm ! 
4 voluntary ' associations, or a 'voluntary' nominal slave- 
holding church, ' with all her handcuffs, chains, lashes, 
task-masters, soul drivers, soul sellers, soul buyers, and 
nameless other things of abomination, which are this 
moment going up to Heaven, that a righteous God would 
speedily avenge himself of such a people as this?'" 
Nay, more ; I have yet to know, that the nominal Ameri- 
can church, with all her much abused and desecrated 
ordinances, may not, with great self-complacency, be 
thanking God, that she is not as these vile " voluntary " 
associations are ; and that the poor publican, from the 
God of love, and the God of the oppressed, may not still 
receive the blessing, and go away justified, rather than 
the " Pharisee ;" and that the poor Samaritan, whoever 
and wherever he may be, rather than the •• Priest and 
the Levite," that past by on the other side, may not, by 



ILLUSTRATED. 265 

One who knoweth the heart, be seen to be neighbour to 
the wounded and the dumb, who have fallen among 
thieves. And, at the same time, it certainly must be, 
that every true lover of Zion greatly desires that she 
may speedily arise, — put far away all her grievous abo- 
minations, — having on her beautiful garments of praise 
and salvation, — her light being come, and the glory of 
the Lord arisen upon her, " as a lamp that burneth, and 
her righteousness going forth as brightness, when she 
would be as a city set on a hill, whose light cannot be 
hid." 

Here it involuntarily occurred to me what the speaker 
said in an anti-slavery convention a few days previous, 
while he was opposing the passage of a certain resolu- 
tion, implicating professed ministers of the gospel for 
"keeping back part of the price," or withholding a part 
of the counsel of God, for not giving the cause of the 
oppressed a suitable place in their ministrations at the 
sacred altar. The speaker stated, on that occasion, 
that God knew that he felt that what had been said in that 
convention, of the deplorable condition of the poor slave, 
was even more than true ; and superadded, " that the 
whole system (slavery) was abominable, from the foun- 
dation to the top-stone." That he had himself witnessed 
in the streets of southern cities, scenes which ought to 
excite the deepest sympathy in every heart. " I have 
literally seen," said the speaker, " a cross erected before 
the Court-House in Vicksburgh, so constructed as to 
fasten one slave on each side of it, to receive the inflic- 
tions of the bloody lash." 

He also added, " that he had seen in the streets 
of New-Orleans, females, with shovels in their hands, 

23 



266 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

cleaning the streets, with iron collars about their necks. ,? 
But still the speaker opposes abolitionists, principally 
because they have published to the world forty volumes 
(as he says) of the like, and still more horrible facts ! ! ! 

Now, while the speaker opposes abolition societies 
on the ground, principally, as he says, that the nominal 
church is the only authorized body to publish such dread- 
ful oppressions to the world, a query arose in my mind, 
whether the speaker himself had probably already pub- 
lished, with deep sympathy of soul, from the sacred desk, 
to his church, as many such distressing facts, in relation 
to the oppressions of his oxen suffering countrymen, as 
the abolitionists have done ; and, also, whether he had 
called upon his people, in good earnest, at once to arise, 
as one man, and clear their skirts, by testifying loudly 
(as against all sins) against this sin of sins, and abo- 
mination of abominations, in our land. 

If, while he professes to know much of the evils of 
slavery, and to regard slavery as the great sin and curse 
of our country, — and has been finding much fault with 
the proceedings of abolitionists, — he has not faithfully 
discharged this high and solemn duty to God and to 
man ; but has actually, all the time, been practically in 
the company of the priest and the Levite, barely look- 
ing on and passing by on the other side : I will not 
arraign the speaker before any human tribunal, but leave 
him with HIM who asked concerning a wounded man, 
left half dead at a certain time, " Which now of these 
three thinkest thou was neighbour unto him that fell 
among the thieves V I never could have taken up my 
humble pen in defence of this cause, had I not regarded 
it as emphatically the cause of God and man ; and that 
whoever exalteth himself against God shall surely come 



ILLUSTRATED. 267 

to nought : fully believing that the chariot wheels of sal- 
vation will roll over every seeming obstruction, and still 
roll on, until he whose right it is to rule shall indeed 
reign king of nations, as he now reigns king of saints. 

While the speaker was opposing these "voluntary" 
associations, on the ground that they effected a mere 
" modification" of the evils, and not a " diminution," 
he also said, "if the ? anti-slavery folks' would just 
christen their ' voluntary association ' by the name • Po- 
litical,' he would then join the * Abolition' Society." I 
was sorry to hear this, for it was at once an admission 
that he would consent to employ himself about the mere 
" modification " of evils, instead of their " diminution ;" 
and that he, being clothed with the " sacred office," 
should prefer political action, or " mere public opinion," 
to moral influence, to accomplish what he had just ad- 
mitted to be a great benevolent and philanthropic object. 

While the speaker most unqualifiedly declared, again 
and again, his deep abhorrence, and utter detestation of 
slavery in all its forms and abominations, and his great 
desire to have all done to do it away that could be done, 
he nevertheless objected most strenuously to the anti- 
slavery " voluntary " association, on the ground that the 
anti-slavery folks, he said, had taken the liberty to 
publish "forty volumes" of anti-slavery literature. He 
thought all that was necessary on the subject, might 
have been put into two or three well written volumes. 

The idea, too, that anti-slavery conventions should 
presume to send out their opinions to the world in the 
form of resolutions, appeared to him horrible ! Indeed, 
the speaker seemed to feel as though such things should 
hardly be tolerated in a free country, not seeming to 



268 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

consider that our good fathers fled from a land of op- 
pression to this more favoured clime of civil and religi- 
ous toleration ; and that all ecclesiastical bodies in this 
country ever since, (his own, of course, included,) have 
published, not two or three " well written volumes" only, 
to promulgate their favourite doctrines, but just as many, 
either well written or ill written ones, as they pleased ; 
and also, that they have sent forth to the world, " time 
immemorial," resolutions almost unnumbered. 

It is very true, that among so great a multitude of re- 
solutions, which ecclesiastical bodies, together with all 
other "voluntary" associations of men, either moral, 
political, mechanical, or scientific, in the healthful exer- 
cise of their happy constitutional freedom, have been 
pleased to publish to the world, some of them may 
have contained doctrines, like the good physician's " nos- 
trums ;" " offensive to take, but sure to cure." 

There is, however, a very happy and redeeming 
clause for us all, in regard to the exercise of this, our so 
highly prized constitutional freedom, which is, that we 
are no more constitutionally compelled to receive and to 
digest all the resolutions in the world, by the wholesale, 
unless the prescriptions are all appropriate to our case, 
than we are, whether sick or in health, eagerly to devour 
all the medicine, of which the apothecaries in the whole 
land, may give the public notice, will cure all diseases. 
The part of wisdom, for us all in this matter, I conceive, 
is simply the part of honesty. And, as in the latter case, 
so in the former. First, to be rigid with ourselves, and 
find out what our moral malady (if any we have) may 
be, and then say, as did the sick man of courage, " Doc- 
tor, if this will cure me, I will take it if it kills me 1" 



ILLUSTRATED. 269 

The good speaker did not seem to realize that these 
same " voluntary associations," whose constitutional 
and inalienable rights he would proscribe, are made up 
of that same people, who, with a spirit of mutual kind- 
ness and forbearance, have always been granting to him- 
self, and to all others, all those constitutional, civil, reli- 
gious, and ecclesiastical rights, which it has ever been 
his and their high and blessed privilege to enjoy, without 
molestation. And now, will not all these same eccle- 
siastical bodies, whose constitutional and inalienable 
rights have been so long sacredly protected by God and 
by man, "in our happy land of freedom," none molest- 
ing, or making afraid, (except, of late, now and then, a 
pro-slavery mob,) cheerfully manifest, at all times, in 
return, the same constitutional, ingenuous, and catholic 
spirit, of universal toleration to others, as that with 
which they have themselves, been so long and so high- 
ly favoured ? If not, with what name, but " intolerance 
or ingratitude itself, ought they to be branded ? It is 
certainly true, that were the church and the ministry 
what they should be, like a lighted city set on an hill, 
or, like a great moral army, with banners, wielding the 
whole truth, (not a part,) in love ; but with power 
against every sin, being blessed of Heaven, there would 
soon be no more handcuffs and chains for the innocent, 
no more intemperance, no more licentiousness, but the 
world would speedily be evangelized to Christ, and love to 
God supreme, and to man universal, would reign over 
the earth, and all captives would return to Mount Zion, 
with crowns, and with songs of everlasting rejoicing. 
But if the visible Zion, with dumb or slumbering watch- 
men upon her walls, rebellious to Heaven, will stand as 

23* 



270 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. 

a mighty bulwark against liberty for the captive, and 
the salvation of a world, what shall the friends of Zion, 
and of her King do, but to enter into " voluntary " associ- 
ations, and to weep in secret places, on account of her 
desolation and her slain. Hitherto, .(" with ascriptions 
of due praise, be it spoken,") all measures, however ap- 
parently powerful in themselves, against the friends of 
the dumb, not permitted to speak for themselves, have 
been mercifully overruled, and made only to hasten on 
the joyous day of their peaceful deliverance. What be- 
liever in divine truth, but must regard this as a blessed 
indication of the favour of Heaven 1 The true church 
of Christ has more than once been preserved, by " volun- 
tary " associations taking refuge in the caves and the 
dens of the earth, (cast down, but not forsaken) and that 
too, sometimes, from a " voluntary " ecclesiastical asso- 
ciation claiming to be the only true church on earth. 
Unhallowed ecclesiastical intolerance and proscription, 
always strikes at the very foundation, not only of all civil, 
but of all religious liberty in the world. This proscrip- 
tive course, which some ecclesiastical bodies are pursu- 
ing, towards what they are pleased, in their sovereign 
pleasure to denominate " voluntary " associations, in 
our highly favoured country of constitutional freedom, 
and equal rights, is no " new thing under the sun." It 
is but a dark relic of Popery, issuing her Bulls and her 
fulminations, saying to her enslaved subjects, 'Uhus far 
shalt thou go, and no farther." 

Now, allowing the motives of this speaker to be none 
other than pure, and kind, (which I would not call in 
question,,) in his thus opposing the publications of works 
containing opinions not exactly comporting with his 



ILLUSTRATED. 271 

own peculiar views, still, the present enlightened part 
of mankind will stamp the principle itself, as far as it 
goes, as no less intolerant than that which is seen in 
the following account, which the protestant world shud- 
ders at, and shrinks from, with a kind of instinctive 
horror!! Similar accounts are often published in the 
books and the journals of the day, as they should be, 
as a perpetual memorial to man, of the dreadful effects 

Of a SPIRIT OF INTOLERANCE. 

Says the Legate of Pope Adrian VI. to the Directory 
of Nuremburgh, "The Pope and Emperor ought to be 
implicitly obeyed ; the heretics' books burned; and 
the printers and sellers of them duly punished. There 
is no other way to suppress and extinguish the perni- 
cious sect of PROTESTAJYTS." 

Says the decree of the Lateral Council, 1515, "that 
no book shall be printed without the bishop's license ; 
that those who transgressed this decree shall forfeit the 
whole impression, which shall be publicly burned ; pay 
a fine of 100 ducats, be suspended from his business 
for one year, and be excommunicated ; that is, given 
over to the devil, soul and body, in God's name and the 
saints' ! !" 

The celebrated council of Trent, whose decrees are 
in full force to the present hour, having never been 
annulled or altered, decides as follows : " Being de- 
sirous of setting bounds to the printers, who, with un- 
limited boldness, supposing themselves at liberty to do 
as they please, print editions of the Holy Bible with 
notes and expressions taken indifferently from any writer 
without the permission of their ECCLESIASTICAL 
SUPERIORS, &c. Neither shall any one hereafter 



272 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

sell such books, or even retain them in their possession, 
unless they have been first examined and approved by 
the ordinary, under penalty of anathema, and the pecu- 
niary fine adjudged by the last council of Lateran." 

As late as the year 1832, Pope Gregory XVI., in his 
circular letter, says, " To this tends that most vile, de- 
testable, and never to be sufficiently execrated liberty 
of Booksellers, viz. of publishing writings of whatever 
kind they please, a liberty which some persons DARE, 
with such a violence of language, to demand and pro- 
mote!! Clement XIII. , our predecessor, of happy me- 
mory, in his circular on the suppression of noxious 
[Protestant] books, pronounces, ' We must contend 
with energy, such as the subject requires, and with all 
our might, to exterminate the deadly mischief of so many 
books, for the matters of error will never be effectually 
removed, unless the guilty elements of depravity be 
consumed in the fire.' The Apostolic See has, through 
all ages, ever striven to condemn suspected and noxious 
[Protestant] books, and to wrest them forcibly out of 
men's hands. It is most clear how rash, false, and 
injurious to our Apostolic See, and fruitful of enormous 
evils to the Christian [papal] public is the doctrine of 
those who not only reject censorship of books as too 
severe and burdensome, but even proceed to such 
lengths of wickedness as to assert that it is contrary to 
the principle of equal justice, and DARE to deny to the 
. church the right of enacting and employing it." 

The late Pope Pius VII., in his reply to the inquiries 
of the Polish bishops as to the course to be pursued by 
them in reference to the Protestant Bible Societies, 
says : " We have been truly shocked at this crafty de- 



ILLUSTRATED. 273 

vice, by which the very foundations of religion are un- 
dermined. For it is evident that the Holy Scriptures, 
when circulated in the vulgar tongue, have, through the 
temerity of men, produced more harm than benefit. 
Continue, therefore, diligently to warn the people en- 
trusted to your care, that they fall not into the snares 
which are prepared for their everlasting ruin ;" or, in 
other words, that they receive not the Bible offered 
them by these societies. 

" Comment," says a valuable journal, " is unneces- 
sary. A word to the wise is sufficient for them. These 
Popes carried their intolerance almost as far, though in 
a much more open and manly way, than some slave- 
holding popes and their abettors, in the 19th century of 
the Christian era in Christian America ; standing be- 
hind the scene, and issuing their anathemas and bulls, 
by way of senatorial, congressional, and ecclesiastical 
resolutions, instigating the populace to rifle mails and 
burn their contents, basely to mob and disperse lawful 
and peaceable assemblies of American citizens ; and to 
destroy printing-presses and massacre their owners — 
burn $40,000* buildings, erected for the accommoda- 
tion of the people for freedom of discussion." 

Now, if our inalienable rights of freedom of speech 
and liberty of the press are to be tyrannically wrested 
from us, it matters little whether the despotism that does 
it, be called a slaveholding, a political, or an ecclesiastical 
despotism, or all three combined ; or whether the agents 
who execute the will of the despots be called officers or 
mobocrats. It would, in such an event, be quite suffi- 

* The Pennsylvania Hall, burnt by an anti-free discussion 
mob in the night of the 18th of May, 1838. 



274 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

cient for us to know that these rights were gone, past 
hope of recovery ; and that we were slaves, with our 
handcuffs, our chains, and our task-masters for our 
comforters. Let the despotic doctrines of Calhoun and 
Patton, which have been so fearfully responded to, at 
the north, politically and ecclesiastically, in letter and 
in spirit, once be carried out, and these same men, with 
their northern abettors, would at once, in like manner, 
arrogantly assume the right to muzzle the press, and to 
suppress, by tyrannical laws, the publication and circu- 
lation of all journals of intelligence, and all books which 
should dare expose their ambitious purposes and 
designs. Should the people simultaneously arise, and 
call upon the press, it could, if it would, speedily, forever 
put a quietus upon all mobs in the land, with no heavier 
balls than type, and with no more pointed bayonets, 
than truth. There is something " rotten in Den- 
mark" that the people must probe, or no longer dream 
of freedom. 

Let us all beware, lest our zeal for the preservation 
of the nominal church merely, does not swiftly lead us 
into this kind of popish intolerance and proscription. 
It is true, mere "hollow-hearted sect or party" may 
for a brief season seem to prosper and triumph by such 
a spirit, which is from beneath, and not from above ; 
but vital piety and true religion never can live and 
flourish under the iron rod of oppression ; for where 
" the Spirit of the Lord is, there must be liberty." 
The precedent would be an imminently dangerous one, 
for any ecclesiastical body whatever to set up such a 
standard of intolerance ; for who knows what ecclesias- 
tical body will obtain the ascendency of the public mind 
first, when it might claim to be the only true church. 



ILLUSTRATED. 275 

and from this oppressive and unsafe principle of intole- 
rance, the liberties, both civil and religious, of all others 
would, of course, at once be subverted? 

But who must not see, that if, indeed, this mode of 
reasoning prove any thing to the speaker's fovourite pur- 
pose, it proves altogether too much for his purpose ; for 
he all along freely admitted, that what had been claimed 
as the only true church, had not only been liable, like 
" voluntary " associations, in all her stages, to become 
greatly corrupted ; so much so, that instead of being the 
light of the world, and the source of all purity, she had 
often been the fountain of all pollution, her light dark- 
ness, and the blind the guide of the blind, being totally 
perverted, by the pride, the unhallowed ambition, and 
the cupidity of depraved man, from her original high and 
holy design, of breaking every yoke of sin, that every 
captive might go free ; and to assuage, remedy, or sanc- 
tify the woes of fallen humanity. 

I should certainly suppose that it would become mem- 
bers of the nominal church of Christ, with a knowledge 
of themselves, and a histoiy of the world before them, 
in blazing characters, instead of manifesting so much 
alarm about " voluntary associations," to look well to it, 
to see whether they are themselves in the faith ; whether 
they are members truly of the invisible church, whose 
head is ever on high. And if, indeed, they may per- 
chance, not be living branches of the living vine, the 
exhortation, that while they think they stand, to take heed 
lest they fall, should not be deemed by them altogether 
amiss. 

My idea is, (and if wrong, I am desirous to be cor- 
rected,) that all "associations," whether voluntary or 



276 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

involuntary, if of man only, will come to the ground, but 
if of God, will stand forever; and that, consequently, the 
the spiritual church of Christ is just as safe, since some 
of her members have eaten and drunk with " jmblicans 
and sinners" as she was before, and that, if voluntary 
associations, instead of publishing forty volumes only, of 
"anti-slavery literature," should publish forty thousand 
volumes, and as many resolutions as the world could 
contain, she would still be safe, and as unmoved as the 
" rock of ages," upon which she is founded. And is it 
not the unspeakable consolation of every true believer, 
that neither " voluntary," nor " involuntary " associa- 
tions, principalities nor powers, nay, even the gates of 
hell, can ever prevail against Zion, for that the King of 
Zion hath spoken it ; and blessed be his nane ! Why, 
all these " guilty fears," that betray so great a want of 
faith in his word ? For, has he not told us to rejoice in 
the Lord always ? And again, does he not say rejoice 1 
Lift up your heads ye bowed down, for the Lord God 
Omnipotent reigneth, and he will favour Zion. The 
church, whose representative head is in the Heavens, 
will ultimately triumph in purity, splendour, and glory ; 
still, the danger I apprehend of ecclesiastical bodies 
adopting this intolerant and proscriptive doctrine, lies 
deep in the present depravity of the human heart. 
However foreign to the motives or the wishes of the 
benevolent mind of the speaker, I yet most respectfully 
conceive, that the direct legitimate tendency of this fear- 
ful doctrine is, (unless mercifully overruled,) to work 
the entire destruction of all the good that the ordinances 
of the church were designed to accomplish. In reading 
the history of the nominal church, who has not seen 



ILLUSTRATED. 277 

more than once a practical and most painful demonstra- 
tion of this? And who does not know, that even now, 
there is more than one ecclesiastical body in the world 
claiming to be the only, if not the infallible church, re- 
garding all others, daring to dissent, not as churches, but 
rather in the light in which our speaker does certain so- 
cieties, as " unauthorized " (not to say rebellious) asso- 
ciations. Even the speaker himself, and his respecta- 
ble denomination, (to whose claim has generally been 
accorded, the reputation of friends of freedom and equal 
rights,) by no means escapes this reprimand from the 
high and arrogant assumption of some ecclesiastical 
bodies. Indeed, we have but to glance at past periods, 
when some branch of the nominal church becoming 
powerful and corrupt, and ruled the world by ecclesias- 
tical domination, or spiritual despotism ; and also at the 
present time, in those countries where some branch of 
the nominal church had attained the ascendency over 
all others^ by means of this same intolerant and proscrip- 
tive doctrine, and united her power with the state, at 
once to give us the most forcible and alarming illustra- 
tion of the practical result of the same anti-republican, 
monarchial doctrine. 

Now I am one who believes that the framers of the 
American constitution were wise and good men, and 
that the spirit of universal toleration which they so clearly 
and so nobly manifested, they had thoroughly learned in 
the great and dear school of experience. For this con- 
stitution, (our last hope of liberty) every American citi- 
zen who loves and hopes still to enjoy civil and religious 
freedom, should forever manifest his most conscientious 
reverence, by ingenuously extending to all his fellow- 

24 



278 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

citizens, that same catholic spirit which dictated it, 
which is the very life and soul of that memorable chart 
of original human rights. In adverting to our speaker 
once more, I certainly cannot say less, than that I trust 
I duly appreciate his motives, his talents, and his virtues ; 
but in his truly " difficult and hazardous" undertaking, 
I could but sympathize, and really felt that in his treat- 
ment of his subject, he manifested more "Philosophy 
of Benevolence" than philosophy of logic* His very 
slight attempt to make some little distinction in what he was 
pleased to style " voluntary associations," (which must 
include of course, all the moral and benevolent, as well 
as all the political associations of the day,) appeared to 
me to be altogether a failure ; and by his ecclesiastical 
anathema, in reality he swept them all "by the board" 
" at one fell swoop," and left some one ecclesiastical 
body, claiming to be the only true church on earth, 
whether her purity be corruption, or her light darkness ; 
sole mistress of the world. 

I ask Christian freemen, and all the friends of con- 
stitutional, civil, and religious toleration, whether they 
are prepared to witness such a tragedy upon human 
liberty, played over again upon the stage of life. Has 
not some ecclesiastical power in the world, long enough, 
in this way, despotically experimented upon the liberties 
of mankind, under the dangerous pretext of advancing 
their sanctification and holiness? We might as well 
think of sanctifying the soul of a poor slave by the 
bloody lash of the cruel task master, or to instil a spirit 
of pure religion into the minds of men, by the horrors of 

* The speaker is the author of an interesting and valuable work 
entitled "Philosophy of Benevolence." 



ILLUSTRATED. 279 

the inquisition. Let it again be said, that where the 
spirit of the Lord is, there must be liberty, " pure and 
sanctified as the mountain air." What progress I 
vvoud ask, has all the bulls, anathemas, and fulminations 
sent out to the world by ecclesiastical power, to terrify 
mankind, ever made, in ameliorating the fallen and sad 
condition of humanity ? I speak only of a spirit as op- 
posite to the spirit of Christ, as light is to darkness ; for 
the spirit of Him whose soul was all benevolence, so far 
as it has been manifested, has ever blessed the world. 
It has visited the sick, the widow, and the fatherless ; fed 
the hungry ; clothed the naked ; administered to those 
in prison ; broken all yokes and rods of oppressors ; un- 
done the heavy burdens, and opened the spiritual as well 
as the slaveholder's prisons and let the captives go free. 
But I speak of a power in the nineteenth century of the 
Christian era, arrayed and ensconsed in darkness, be- 
hind the American church, directly or indirectly, either 
forging and fastening chains upon two and a half millions 
of our poor, borne down, and enslaved fellow-country- 
men, or in some way smiting the kind hand that would 
fain file off these sore and galling chains, and pour wine 
and oil into the grievous and aching wounds they have 
made. 

" On the side of the oppressor there ivas power, but 
they had no comforter f Of this mighty phalanx which 
have vainly fled for refuge from the pending judgements 
of offended Heaven, behind the desecrated altar, some 
by silence are consenting to the death, others dividing 
the raiment, others attempting to atone for their sins by 
selling the body to give the money to the needy, or to 
convert foreign heathen." But will not the " foreign 
heathen," before they enlist for life, ask some good as- 



280 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

surance that they too, shall not be sold in turn under the 
hammer of such a slavery, pro-slavery ; or apologist 
slavery church, to convert American heathen ? What 
would you do, reader, were you a " foreign heathen," 
and knew the " thirty pieces of silver," which sent your 
missionary to you, to be the price of the blood of mil- 
lions of souls 1 Would you be likely to enlist for life, 
asking no questions "for conscience" sake? 

The doctrine so speciously held forth, (not by our 
speaker only, but by an ecclesiastical phalanx, whose 
influence, I am pained to say, the soul-seller, and the 
soul-destroyer gladly claims,) that all " voluntary " as- 
sociations to promote any good objects, out of the pale 
of the nominal church, are necessarily unlawful and im- 
proper, (though very plausible on a superficial view,) is 
still, but a dark relic of the "dark ages of priestcraft." 
It will forever promote unhallowed ambition , and oppress 
piety itself* 

It is true, we know, that all salvation must come out 
of Zioru But I have yet to learn, that there is more 
than one eye in the wide universe* that beholds, with 
certainty, in what hearts the walls of the spiritual Zion 
are laid. Still we know that her walls, and her gates are 
salvation, and are ever before the King of Zion, and her 
name engraven upon his hands. 

But we know too, that all ecclesiastical history, in 
connexion with the sacred pages, abundantly informs 
us, that at certain periods, what has been claimed to 
be the nominal, or the visible church, has been the great 
fountain of moral pollution in itself, and corruption to 
the whole world. 

And if every church now on earth, was either a slave- 
Violding, or a pro-slavery church ; I could not for one, 



ILLUSTRATED. 281 

possibly hesitate a moment, to believe, that this would 
be, most emphatically, one of those dreadful periods, 
all our prayers, professions, and missionary zeal, ap- 
parently, to the contrary notwithstanding. They would 
all be but smoke, coming up before the God of the op- 
pressed, and the God of holiness, who cannot be mock- 
ed with impunity. 

But, even then, the spiritual church would still ex- 
ist, and would ultimately prove a renovating, re- 
deeming, and purifying spirit, " so as by fire." Yet, 
I verily believe, that did the whole world know what 
slavery is, and saw no church in the world, but a 
slaveholding one, or an apologist church for slavery, 
they would far sooner believe in a revelation yet to 
come, than they would believe there was any church on 
earth, unless indeed, it was instituted by a being of 
malevolence, instead of a being of benevolence, and such 
a church too, would be shunned by all persons in their 
senses, with their eyes open, regardless of condition or 
colour, as they would shun the vampire, the crockodile, 
the crater, or the whirlpool of death! ! 

It does appear to me, that there can be no doubt, but 
that the toleration of slavery in the American churches, 
has contributed more, far more, by all its legitimate, 
demoralizing, and corrupting influences, to the preva- 
lence of American skepticism in all divine truth, with 
its consequent train of untold evils, seen and unseen, 
than all other causes combined. 

Slavery being sustained by the nominal church, ap- 
pears to have been the great source of moral degenera- 
cy in this country, which has been spreading itself for 

24* 



282 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

nearly a century, like a gangrene, and corrupting net the 
church only, but the whole body politic. 

And who should wonder at this 1 What mortal eye 
can see to what alarming extent the slaveholding spirit, 
with its numerous progeny of evil spirits, has already 
corrupted the American church? 

Not to name her long accustomed practice of saying 
to the rich man, with the costly apparel, and the " gold 
ring," come up hither ; and to the poor man, in plain 
apparel, sit thou here under my footstool ; — to say 
nothing of her bowing down to gods of silver and of 
gold, instead of the God of Heaven and of holiness : 
she has long been guilty of still higher, and broader, 
and more Heaven-daring abominations ; even that of 
designedly withholding the word of life from her own 
members, and then selling them under the hammer of 
the auctioneer, from all the divinely, and most endear- 
ingly instituted relations of life, into returnless bondage, 
and that too, sometimes, under the hypocritical, and 
Heaven-insulting sanctity, to raise money to convert the 
" poor heathen." 

I will not here pretend to say, how far in the eye of 
purity, all these, with nameless other evils, fall short of 
the corruptions, and consequent dreadful practices of 
the Roman hierarchy itself. 

If the present nominal churches in America do not 
speedily repent, and put away from them such Heaven- 
offending abominations, who can tell that God in his 
righteous providence, will not say to his own chosen 
ones, whoever they may be, whether Publicans or Sa- 
maritans, come out from among them, and be ye sepa- 
rate? 



ILLUSTRATED. 283 

But, says one, no man should dare speculate in this 
manner upon " sacred things," unless he be clothed 
with clerical authority, and sacerdotal robes. From this 
high ecclesiastical assumption, however, I must for one 
forever dissent, as a doctrine tending directly to eccle- 
siastical despotism, just as much to be deprecated as 
any other absolute power on earth, wrongfully exercised 
by man over his fellow. 

Ail admit that the spiritual Zion of God can only be 
discerned by its Great Head on high. Hence, it clearly 
follows, that the assumption of any political or ecclesi- 
astical body whatever, to claim the absolute dictator- 
ship over any man, so far as to deprive him of his in- 
alienable and constitutional rights of conscience, would 
be altogether unwarrantable, intolerant, and imminently 
dangerous ; as striking at the very foundation, not only 
of all civil, but of all religious liberty. 

Ministers or laymen, professing great abhorrence to 
slavery in the "abstract J'' and great friendship to " an- 
H-slavery " " in general," and at the same time, claim- 
ing and exercising an ecclesiastical jurisdiction to disci- 
pline members of their churches, for speaking or pray- 
ing on the subject of slavery, agreeable to the dictates 
of their own consciences, is not only a glaring anoma- 
ly, but a most wicked and startling stride of popish 
despotism, against which, so far as my humble protest 
may go, I hope it will ever most cordially be entered, 
for the interests of pure religion, for the cause of holy 
freedom, for the highest and best good of my fellow- 
men, and my beloved country. 

A church might just as well assume the prerogative, 
to dictate to its members, what political party they shall 



284 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

belong to, and what candidate for office they shall vote 
for. All this is only the principle legitimately carried 
out. And, indeed, it would not stop here, but by this 
same aggressive principle, upon inalienable rights, it 
would assume to tax your property, to any extent with- 
in the sovereign pleasure of an ecclesiastical body. 

All this arrogant assumption over the civil and reli- 
gious liberties of others ; nay, much more, is the dread- 
ful result of the first invasion of the sacred castle, con- 
taining the Heaven-descended legacy, " the inalienable 
rights of man." This castle once profanely entered, 
the spoiler rudely plunders whatever he can lay his des- 
potic hand upon. It should be guarded, as we guard 
the seat of life ; and under no pretext, however plausible, 
whether moral, political, or religious, should it be suffer- 
ed to be invaded. If this doctrine, of the infallibility of 
the Church, or the Pope, should ever again obtain, the 
Church, of course, would resume all that prerogative 
over her members, and ultimately over the world, which 
the Pope of Rome himself claimed, and which he so 
long exercised, with so cruel and despotic sway. The 
doctrine of the infallibility of the POPE, and the infalli- 
bility of the Church, is most clearly, one and the same 
thing. 

And all history, experience, and common sense, 
unite to show us, that it ends in the sacrilegious wor- 
ship of the Church, instead of the worship of the living 
and the true God ; and not in the destruction of all true 
piety only, but in the entire subversion of all civil, as 
well as all religious liberty. 

If the glorious millennial morn is ever to break upon 
an enraptured world, it will doubtless be preceded by 



ILLUSTRATED. 285 

the dawnings of purer, freer, and more equal govern- 
ments among men, than the earth has ever yet beheld, 
when the clanking of no chains upon guiltless men, 
women, and children, shall be heard, nor the sound of 
the voice, and the hammer of the auctioneer, in selling 
to the highest bidder, forever, his fellow and his broth- 
er, " from wife, from children, and from friends un- 
seen," and from the desecrated communion table of his 
Saviour. 

It will also, doubtless, be a time when no man will 
be mobbed, or assassinated for speaking his sentiments 
freely. And its entire consummation, so devoutly to be 
wished, would be, love to God supreme, and to man 
universal ; as the ruling motive of all, regardless of 
condition or colour. 

Hear the voice of an American foreign missionary 
on this subject, in an extract from his late letter to his 
friends in this, his native country. 

" I write because it is a privilege for me, (as I think 
it should be for every Christian,) to take an open and 
decided stand in favour of those who are labouring to 
crush slavery. Especially is this a privilege at a time 
when morbid prudence, or time-serving policy is setting 
afloat the sentiment that it is a subject with which the 
missionary should not intermeddle. I must confess, 
that if the immediate abolition of slavery is a subject in 
which Christians, of every name, circumstance, or oc- 
cupation, whether public or private, individual or cor- 
porate, may not, and should not take an open, undis- 
guised, and active part ; then there is no subject in all 
the wide field of benevolent action, in which they should 
do so. 



286 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

" Of all the abominations that have cursed the earth, 
where is there one more flagrant, than that of enslaving 
and crushing to dust our fellow-men? Of all the sins, 
which Christians are called upon to oppose at the pre- 
sent day, where is there a more heinous one than the 
one your society are labouring to destroy? The mere 
fact, that insisting upon the immediate abolition of slav- 
ery, and that describing in Bible language, the odious- 
ness of traffic in human flesh, will disoblige a class of 
interested persons, however great, is no proof that either 
sound prudence, or the religion of Christ, requires one 
to forbear." 

I consider, even the best of Christians, but men sub- 
ject to like passions, interests, and prejudices, of other 
men ; and by consequence, exposed to like tempta- 
tions. 

And while I would fain hope, that the spirit of the 
gospel of peace, and the love of holy and rational 
liberty, consisting of equal justice, and equal rights, to 
all men, should ever triumph in our beloved country, 
and prevail over all considerations of an unhallowed, 
selfish, and debasing character, still, of this we can have 
no positive assurance, until the coming of that blessed 
and glorious day, when " Holiness to the Lord ! shall be 
written on every thing beneath the sun." 

But who pretends that ecclesiastical bodies are not 
now, in a great degree, like other bodies, composed of 
" erring mortals," by no means entirely free, either from 
intentional or unintentional wrongs, or from unhallowed 
ambition? And as a professed believer in the Christian 
religion, and in its ultimate redeeming and purifying 
spirit and principles, and as an American citizen, and a 



ILLUSTRATED. 287 

humble individual, I am still prepared to give it as my 
most deliberate opinion, that if the liberties of our be- 
loved country are destined ever to be subverted, to say 
the least, the temptations to the great national eccle- 
siastical bodies to participate, directly or indirectly, in 
the consummation of a catastrophe so direful, would 
be fully equal to that of political bodies. And I think 
there might be strong reasons adduced in proof, that 
they may be in some instances even greater. To men- 
tion no other one at present, the strong and almost in- 
dissoluble ties among the great national ecclesiastical 
bodies, with all their variously connected and equally 
extensive and " voluntary benevolent associations," have 
already drawn out fearful symptoms in portions of these 
bodies at the north, not only of a passive, but of an 
active disposition to bring all to succumb to the arrogant 
dictation of southern ecclesiastical assumption, (which 
so completely chimes in with all the outrages which our 
wounded and bleeding constitution and laws have suf- 
fered by " demagogues in the House," and by " mobo- 
crats out of doors,) even at the dreadful sacrifice of the 
most important, inalienable, and constitutional rights of 
a large portion of northern, but American citizens. I 
mean the sacred and the unmolested liberty of speech 
and the press. 

Life has also recently been wantonly sacrificed ; the 
life, too, of a valuable and an independent American 
freeman, by the tacit consent (with a few noble excep- 
tions) of the ecclesiastical bodies in our country. The 
innocent blood of Lovejoy is now reeking upon this 
guilty nation, of which these powerful and highly re- 
sponsible ecclesiastical bodies, to God, to their coun- 



288 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

try, to posterity, and to the world, form an important 
constituent part. I said that an innocent and an unof- 
fending American citizen was unlawfully put to death, 
with the virtual consent of a large portion of the nomi- 
nal American Christian Church. For, to have been 
true to the constitution, true to their country, to their 
religion, and to their God, all the ecclesiastical bodies 
in the whole land, regardless of sect or location, at the 
sad announcement of the horrid massacre of one of 
their own dear countrymen by a ruthless mob, while 
in the lawful defence of his most undoubted rights, as 
by an electric shock, should have rallied around their * 
respective standards ; and a loud voice should have 
broken out from among them, that would at once awoke 
this slumbering nation into life, to call without delay, 
for the righteous demands of an insulted country, by the 
high-handed violation of the sanctity, and of the ma- 
jesty of her laws. 

Christians, patriots, and philanthropists, who care- 
fully observe the signs of the times, at such ominous 
silence, at an event so awful, may well tremble, with 
dark and fearful forebodings ! ! Whether the vast temp- 
tations to all the great national, ecclesiastical bodies, 
with all their associations which have been alluded to, 
shall form an " American Holy Alliance," or shall 
ultimately be more patriotically and more religiously 
withstood by //iem, than shall be all the political temp- 
tations to political bodies, remains to be seen. And 
whether neither ecclesiastical nor political bodies shall 
heroically and patriotically withstand the temptations to 
grasp unhallowed power, to enslave the country, but 
shall actually unite in effecting the entire subversion of 



ILLUSTRATED. 289 

all our liberties, the people, of course, will look well to, 
if they mean long to remain free. Who can fail to see 
that the national church and the state, are virtually 
uniting on the side of slavery for all, instead of liberty 
for all ? 

But if, indeed, we are already in a state of gradual 
(or rather rapid) preparation for servitude and vassalage, 
we shall be unsuspecting, unwatchful, and lax in our 
energies and our efforts. We shall amuse ourselves 
with the syren song ; peace, and safety ; " a little more 
sleep, a little more slumber, and a little more folding tfu 
arms io sleep." And if past recovery, we shall uncon- 
sciously become more and more insensible to our true 
condition ; until our doom be sealed forever, and we 
can servilely hug our chains, and humbly kiss the rod 
that smites us. 

Let neither the most fastidious, nor even the most 
pious, feel for a moment that the consideration of temp- 
tations, to evils so vast, are too sacred to be thrown be- 
fore the American public and the world. Far otherwise! ! 
Such feelings would arise from contracted and danger- 
ous bigotry, and not from enlightened, pure, undefiled, 
and saving religion, which would fain exhibit the truth, 
and leave it with the God of truth, imploring his blessing 
upon it. Surely dangers so great, to all our civil, and 
all our religious liberties ; to property, person, — and to 
life itself, — are just as much proper subjects of holy 
conversation, and the most fervent prayer, for the most 
sincere and devout Christians in the land, as even the 
salvation of a world ; for, when civil and religious liber- 
ties become subverted, all such religious toleration of 
the inalienable rights of conscience, which the letter and 

25 



290 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

the spirit of our once idolized constitution so sacredly 
guaranties to every American citizen, would come to an 
end ; and our conversation, our devotions, and our pray- 
ers, must then no longer be dictated by Him who heareth 
prayer, but by man. We should not then, as now, be 
blessed with the high and Heaven-born privilege of wor- 
shipping our Maker " under our own vine and jig-tree, 
where there are none to molest us, or to make us ajraid." 
From a careful, but painful, consideration of the whole 
dreadful subject of American slavery, in all its fearful 
national consequences, morally and politically, I have 
at length arrived at the most deliberate, and, probably, 
irreversible conclusion, that the chains which now bind 
down to the earth two and a half millions of my dear 
fellow-men and fellow-countrymen, by whatever plausi- 
ble and sacred, but desecrated names now called, whether 
political, ecclesiastical, or even religious, should at once 
and forever be christened by their real names, " high- 
handed tyranny," and " Heaven-daring wickedness ;" 
the opinions about denunciatory language, of some of 
our highly esteemed fellow-citizens, (who seem not yet, 
from some cause, to have laid our great national op- 
pressions much to heart ;) to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. It is therefore my settled, and, I trust, unalterable 
purpose, as I hope, out of regard to the best interests of 
my fellow-men and of my country, while life remains, 
peacefully and lawfully to use the sharp file of naked 
truth upon these cruel chains, until they fall from the 
limbs of my so long, and so much abused, and debased 
brother ; and he shall lift up his bowed head, and stand 
erect ; in all that original and inalienable independence, 
dignity, majesty, and grandeur, in which his Maker 



ILLUSTRATED. 291 

* formed ' him, in his own divine image ; and, until our 
beloved country, too, shall thereby stand forth redeem- 
ed before high Heaven, and the nations of the earth. 

But let us make a more particular reference to the 
various plausible attitudes of opposition to all objects, 
to which, for any cause whatever, we feel opposed ; 
which we are all of us so very prone to assume ; and to 
which we openly, or more covertly, manifest our dislike. 

In a certain stage of the temperance cause, for ex- 
ample, there were a great many professed friends to 
temperance, in the " abstract" but who were much op- 
posed to societies and to temperance, in " detail ;" but 
whenever they had occasion to " open their mouths " on 
the subject of temperance, it was done in a way, either 
directly or indirectly, to injure and to wound the cause, 
in " particular" which they so much professed to love 
in " general." 

I have to acknowledge I do not understand such kind 
of " abstract" or general friendship ; and I should think 
it would be like self-righteousness, and that the less any 
good cause had of it the better. 

There are but two causes, in most instances, which 
keep persons (who might otherwise be admitted,) out of 
societies organized for the promotion of a given object. 
One is, either secret, or open hostility from interest or 
otherwise, to their principles ; and the other is, from 
lack of nerve, or constitutional, or moral stamina, fear of 
their popularity, in breasting popular prejudices. There 
are, sometimes, persons who would be willing to be 
known as members of certain societies in one latitude, 
but not before the whole world. This class will be apt 
to keep back " part of the price." 



292 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

As the phrenologist would say, " they may possibly be 
in the organ of conscientiousness, benevolence, or deficient 
combativeness, or perchance not overstocked with any one 
of these ingredients." Some people are determined to 
be popular at all hazards ; but it requires but little dis- 
cernment to see, that such individuals, from the very 
nature of the case, must most emphatically be persons 
of no fixed principles of action ; unless, indeed, it may 
be considered a principle of action, to be " all things to 
all men, for our own sakes." 

They are the mere useless floating particles of crea- 
tion. Having themselves no ideas or principles, they 
seldom or never venture an opinion about men or things, 
" pro or con," unless as mere echoes to public or party 
sentiment. Non-committalism is their watch word and 
their natural element. Society, of necessity, must ever 
be indebted to other sources, for its pillars and strength, 
as much more, as the superstructure of an edifice is in- 
debted for its support to its very foundation, than to the 
vane upon its top, that merely tells the mariner when to 
spread his canvas. The doctrine of " expediency," and 
" non-committalism," are twin brothers. They are a 
kind of one eyed monster, and that one eye appears to be 
inverted ; and forever directed wholly upon self 



SECTION XVII. 

"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY , BE- 
CAUSE PEACE IS SO VERY DESIRABLE." 

Is it not plain that this lover of peace has by some means 
reversed in his mind the good Scripture doctrine which is 
" first pure, then peaceable." I once heard a very peace- 
able and kind-hearted man, as I supposed he was, make 
this objection to the discussion of slavery. It instantly 
reminded me, however, of a toast which a veteran of the 
revolution, now living among us, often used to give in 
my hearing when a boy. On being asked why he never 
gave any other toast, he replied, because the soldiers, 
for some time before the close of the war, though nearly 
exhausted by its hard fatigues, and death staring them in 
the face from every quarter, gave none but this ; and he 
regarded it, he said, as comprehending all others worth 
giving. It was this short but very significant one, 
" Peace on good terms." And as the sentiment is 
equally applicable, morally or politically, I shall leave 
this objection here for all to make their own application. 
Who does not know that there is the peace of death, 
and also the peace of God, that passeth understanding ? 
A peace man should contend earnestly for emancipation 
in the same sense, and in the same spirit in which 
Christians are commanded to contend earnestly for the 
faith once delivered to the saints. It certainly was a 
justly celebrated sentiment also of President Jackson, 

25* 



294 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

in adjusting national differences, "ask for nothing but 
what is right, and submit to nothing wrong." This in 
a properly qualified sense, is both Christian and repub- 
lican doctrine. 

Were we under the deep and dreadful curse of slavery 
in a nation where the awful stillness of the "peace oj 
death" reigned around us, on account of our condition, 
think you we should not, in the depth of our souls, be 
ready to pronounce a wo upon such a people? And 
what could be our anticipations of a Heaven in which to 
spend an eternity with such beings as our relentless and 
merciless oppressors 1 

And did we suppose there were no God but their God, 
could we possibly desire always to be confined in his 
presence ? Would it indeed be hardly in the power of 
mind to conceive of a place where we should not in pre- 
ference desire to dwell forever I 



SECTION XVIII. 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE IT IS, OR WILL BECOME A POLITICAL SUBJECT." 



This same plea was once urged against the temperance 
cause. Who cannot see the origin of this unfounded 
charge? And who does not know that to a drunken 
man all things stagger, to the jaundiced eye, all things 
are yellow, and that to the exclusively political man all 
things are political? The charge itself is unfounded; 
but if true, what then 1 Would not the same great prin- 
ciples of human rights still be involved in the subject of 
slavery, whether moral, political, or both? It is indeed 
lamentably true, that comparatively a few slaveholders, 
without any distinct party organization, have held the 
balance of power, and ruled the country with the task- 
master's rod of correction. It is therefore hard to tell 
what men would mean by such an objection. They 
seem to speak as though freemen had no right to think, 
to speak, or to act politically as well as morally in a free 
country. The objection amounts to just nothing at all 
in my estimation. If the great principles of the Ameri- 
can constitution are destined to triumph in this land, 
slavery certainly will be abolished, and universal rational 
freedom will prevail, whether public opinion shall be cre- 
ated by means of societies or otherwise ; nevertheless 
I think perhaps it may be best to examine this objection 
a little, and see what can be made of it. Does it mean 



296 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

that we have one or two " lawfully established political 
parties in the country, and no man must dare presume 
to think, speak, or act politically or morally in any man- 
ner that might seem to be against them, or to disapprove 
their course or their principles in any case whatever? 
If this be its meaning, wo be to the man who takes this 
stand in a land of freedom until thk divine rights of 

KINGS SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER, AS IRREVO- 
CABLY AS THE LAWS OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS. 

Now the friends of this cause deny that the subject 
in itself is political on mere party grounds, or that they 
desire to make it so, but claim that the prevalence of 
the great and self evident moral principes it involves 
would, from a wholesome public sentiment, soon peace- 
fully and effectually accomplish the greatly desired ob- 
ject of universal emancipation and rational constitutional 
freedom throughout the land. And what they complain 
of is, not that any of their fellow-citizens exercise their 
constitutional right to oppose these principles which they 
deem so vitally essential to the freedom of the slave, 
their own and their children's freedom, and that of our 
common country, but that they do not oppose them in a 
constitutional manner, as becomes the honour and the 
dignity of freemen. But as it were, are sinking trenches 
and throwing up breastworks in midnight darkness 
against the approach of a friend and not of an enemy. 
They only ask their fellow-citizens to come out into the 
open field, and bravely meet them with the noble Chris- 
tian and republican armour of truth and argument. It is 
true that all questions of great and increasing import- 
ance are always liable to be seized upon by mere wily 
party politicians to be turned to their own and to their 



ILLUSTRATED. 297 

party's account under pretence of "loving the people 
most dearly." 

But as to the anti-slavery cause, thus far, eagle eyed 
and " expedient " politicians of all parties, with what 
John Randolph would call " dough faces," have laboured 
most assiduously to put it far from them for the important 
reason that it was unpopular, and not because it was not 
right in itself. But public opinion will roll on, if liberty 
in our beloved land is destined to triumph, and leave 
this class of men in their own reveries, " to behold and 
wonder, and perish." It is however very hopeful that 
many who have heretofore pursued this course have 
paused, and are at least " considering on their way." 

It is certainly painfully amusing to see the " expe- 
dient " maneuvering of mere party tacticians in politics, 
on all subjects which they deem in any way likely to 
affect their political interests. While a subject of any 
kind, however humane or patriotic in itself, is decidedly 
unpopular, they will most unqualifiedly repudiate it ; and 
each party exerts its utmost influence, and often by base 
means to charge it over to the credit, or rather, as they 
intend to the disgrace of its opponents. 

Let the same thing become popular to-day, forgetting 
what it was doing but yesterday, each party at once 
claims to be its most fearless advocate and its principal 
instigator. These are grave matters of every day 
occurrence among men whose very trade is party poli- 
tics. Philanthropists must not wait for prominent politi- 
cal men (as such only) of any party before they will 
move on in this great and noble cause of human rights, 
or in any other cause of humanity and benevolence ; for 
in so doing they would be acting like the man loitering 



298 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

on the bank of a river with an exhaustless fountain, wait- 
ing for the water to run by, that he might pass over dry 
shod. The anti-slavery cause in its moral bearing, from 
its sacredness, has little to hope from mere sordid party 
politicians of any name ; for these are the very men for 
the most obvious of selfish reasons, who have thus far 
been holding it up with its friends to the most cruel con- 
tempt and derision. I speak now of such partisans only, 
of any name, whether Van Buren, Whig, or Loco Foco, 
if their motto should be, " we must stop at nothing to 
accomplish our ends." Politicians of this stamp, I care not 
what the name, if they obtain the ascendency of the pub- 
lic mind, will most certainly demoralize and ultimately 
ruin any country, just so sure as virtue is conservative, 
and vice destructive. Any people to be safe must have 
the intelligence to see, and the virtue to adhere to the 
constitutional principles of their compact ; but forever re- 
serving their safe, wholesome, inalienable rights ; of 
freely discussing, and of suggesting the propriety of 
changes or alterations from time to time, according to 
circumstances, as they may conceive such changes or 
alterations to be for the greatest good of all concerned. 
Short of this kind of rational freedom it is seen at once, 
that there must be an end to all improvement in civilized 
life. 

But whenever leading politicians are found wanting, 
either in this necessary intelligence or virtue, to accom- 
plish some favourite scheme of their own, they often 
deem it " expedient " to advance doctrines unconstitu- 
tional, disorganizing, and dangerous. And in such 
cases in all countries, and in all ages, unthinking men, 
in a reckless, and ruthless spirit of mobocracy, have 



ILLUSTRATED. 299 

acted only as their blind echoes and allies. It is most 
devoutly to be hoped that the people would keep the 
anti-slavery cause or the cause of freedom, which is their 
own cause, out of the control of any such men. This 
will be the only rational hope for the oppressed and for 
the country. It is more and more being seen and felt 
every day, that the cause of coloured emancipation in 
our land is indeed most emphatically the cause of free- 
dom itself for all. If this principle be not sufficiently 
seen and felt in time, all hope of our remaining a free 
people much longer will be over forever. And if an 
absolute government should ever be established on the 
ruins of the present, it would unquestionably be of the 
most despotic character. Let us not dare become so 
intoxicated with our present freedom as for a moment to 
dream that even all this is quite beyo?id the possibility of 
human events! ! If the anti-slavery cause in our coun- 
try is destined to succeed, the truth must and will be 
felt, that it is in every sense for us all, the cause of free- 
dom against oppression and tyranny. And it should be 
remembered also, that " on the side of the oppressor 
there is power." And while the friends of truth and 
freedom do not rely on physical or numerical power, 
they must and ought to rely largely on the power of 
truth and the genuine principles of rational liberty, with 
the blessing of Heaven. My opinion would be to the 
friends of freedom and the oppressed, studiously to avoid 
identifying this cause with any political party whatever, 
while they still individually nobly withhold their suffrages 
or cast them clearly on the side of rational liberty. The 
slavery interest in our country is so tremendous that no 
prominent and leading politician of any party (whatever 



300 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

his private sentiments maybe,) will dare openly to array 
himself against it, until he think he shall be sustained 
by the people. Such men of course feel little sense of 
moral obligation, but all with them is party and " ex- 
pediency." 

You talk of moral obligation to such men, and you 
seem to them as Lot did to the Sodomites, as one that 
" mocks," and they cry, fanatic ! fanatic ! or in other 
words, thou fool ! ! 

Though the all-reforming power is found to lie with 
the body of the people, nevertheless, public men, and 
leading politicians, never appear to better advantage, 
as men, than when they plant their feet (like the vener- 
able Ex-President, John Quincy Adams,) on some 
great reforming principle, and there, regardless of pop- 
ular favour, or popular indignation, determine to abide 
the issue. 

Public men are by no means acting worthy of the 
confidence of the people, when they act only on the 
" time serving " principle. They should ever act as 
one of the people, and one with the people, having in- 
terests in common with them. The public are entitled 
to every freeman's opinions, and public men should give 
theirs on all subjects of public interest, as disinterest- 
edly, as honestly, and as unreservedly as private citi- 
zens. 

Let no professed patriot, for a moment, feel that he has 
done his part towards sustaining, and perpetuating the 
liberties of his country, by barely informing himself of 
the existence of impending dangers. He should also 
embrace every proper opportunity, to impart this infor- 
mation to all his countrymen, at the hazard, even of 



ILLUSTRATED. 301 

property, of reputation, and of life itself, if necessary. 
The noble Lovejoy, with thousands of others in the 
world, who have fallen in freedom's cause, felt so. 
With regard to Lovejoy, when all the lumber of preju- 
dice, which the magic power of slavery has been man- 
ufacturing for ages, shall be rolled from the public mind 
by the strong lever of truth, his character will then be 
thus seen, like the sun breaking out from a gloom of 
clouds, and shining forth in his own native brilliancy and 
splendour. 

Hence, we see, that no one in a high sense, can be 
truly a valuable citizen of a free government, unless he 
adopt efficient means, so far as shall be within his pow- 
er, both to acquire, and to impart correct information 
in all things that pertain to the good of his country, and 
his fellow-men, regardless of his own sordid, private 
interests. 

Do we not see, that men in all ages, whose souls 
have been most enlarged, like that of Washington or 
Lafayette, with this disinterested love of country, or of 
liberty and mankind, are the distinguished patriots and 
philanthropists, whose names, and whose virtues, are 
embalmed and immortalized in the memory of man ? 

Such names shall live ; while the names of those 
who hold to, and act upon the principle, that "slavery 
is the best basis of freedom ," shall moulder in forgetful- 
ness. 

We know, that that most specious doctrine of " ex- 
pediency" so much harped upon by "demagogues," 
(the opponents of " fanaticks,") and which has already, .. 
so greatly corrupted, and endangered the stability, and 
perhaps the very existence of all our institutions, both 

26 



302 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

of church and of state, in our presumptuous and " Heav- 
en-daring" nation, is as widely different from this, as 
are the poles apart ; for the one seeks self, and the oth- 
er its COUNTRY. 

Yet, the corrupt and degenerate use of the term "ex- 
pedient," has come to mean, unqualifiedly, that which 
is best, for my most noble and beloved self, and for my 
beloved " party," — totally regardless of abstract jus- 
tice or right. It thus aims a most deadly blow, at the 
very root of all truth, and would fill the world with " cold 
and heartless selfishness, and lies." 

Whatever may be said by Americans, about "petti- 
coal government" who can but favourably regard the pre- 
sent Queen of England, for the excellent sentiment, 
recently expressed by her, when one of her Courtiers 
proposed a measure to her " majesty," as a very " ex- 
pedient " one. — " Talk not of 'expedients,' " was her 
noble reply, " but tell me, is it right ?" 

We should also, to be consistent patriots, exercise 
our sacred right of suffrage, with strict, and conscien- 
cious reference to principle, and not to men. I do not 
mean that principle which will lead us to best serve our 
favourite party, but the cause of truth, our favourite 
country, and posterity. For instance, I have one 
vote, which is as sacred and as dear to me, as though I 
had five hundred votes, based on property in human 
flesh. 

All others, of course, will do as they pleased, but so 
far as regards myself, I am perfectly willing the world 
should know, (call it " abolitionism," or what they may,) 
that I will give my one vote to no man living, to be my 
servant, ruler, or law-maker, unless I previously know 



ILLUSTRATED. 303 

it to be his sentiments, that all public servants of the 
people should ever feel themselves under the highest 
possible obligation, forever to stand by, and protect the 
free and constitutional right of speech, freedom of dis- 
cussion, and liberty of the press, independent of all par- 
ty considerations whatever; and also to stand up firmly 
and immovably, under all circumstances, for the sacred 
constitutional rights of respectful petition from the peo- 
ple, to whom they owe their promotion, and whose ser- 
vants they are, and not only for the respectful reception 
of all such petitions from the people, by their servants 
or representatives, but for a candid examination of their 
claims ; and who would not insult the people, by reck- 
lessly trampling their petitions under their feet, or con- 
temptuously throwing them ow, or under the table. 

Should I not at least require these prominent quali- 
fications to be indispensable in any man claiming my 
suffrage, I should consider myself acting as an enemy 
and a traitor to my country and posterity. 

I have made these plain remarks in this place, as 
being somewhat relevant to the subject, to show what 
I thought were the bounds in exercising the right of 
suffrage, beyond which, acting with a proper regard to 
himself and his country, no man can pass with impu- 
nity, let his politics, or let his opinions about the eman- 
cipation of the slaves, be what they may. If the people 
can have a fair hearing of all subjects, I could most 
confidently trust the result. 

Whoever shall violate these fundamental and self- 
evident principles, for any pretence whatever, for party, 
or otherwise, cannot, I think, be properly regarded a 
consistent friend to freedom, to his country ; to his own 



304 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

rights, or to the rights of others. And the evil of hi? 
course will most inevitably, ere long, fall back with 
crushing weight upon his own head, or upon the heads 
of his children. Such a man would receive the impre- 
cations and curses, and not the benedictions, of his de- 
scendants. One might flatter himself that he can enjoy 
power for a " brief space" by such a course; but it 
should be remembered, it is far from being patriotic. 

While the great and prominent object of this holy 
enterprise is the liberation from thraldom, and to effect 
the highest temporal, as well as eternal good, of two 
and a half millions of our suffering fellow-beings, in 
cruel bondage ; still, notwithstanding northern dema- 
gogues, who are courting southern favour, cry "hush! 
hush ! you traitor to the Union," whenever a northern 
man attempts to speak of his moral or political consti- 
tutional rights ; yet northern freemen, who would act for 
themselves and their posterity, must be unhappily and 
amazingly blinded, not to see that the slaveholding 
states are united and determined to make the inhuman 
institution of slavery the powerful engine of the speedy 
and entire subjugation of northern liberties. 

And will the north be made instrumental to effect her 
own ruin? Who does not see that the slave states, 
though their movements are insidious, are even now 
all alive for the immediate admission of the vast country 
of Texas into the Union, which, when politically carved 
up into a number of slave states, they secure the balance 
in the senate, and our liberties are gone ! Revolt, or 
base vassalage to a slaveholding nation, would then be 
our inevitable doom. Great men, and all men, at the 
ybrth, would then be in the like degraded condition. 



ILLUSTRATED. 305 

We might then imploringly look to our Van Burens, 
our Marcies, our Wrights, our Adamses, or our Web- 
sters, for help, but look in vain. They, too, would be 
shorn of their locks by the demon of slavery, and the 
people would awake, when too late, and anxiously in- 
quire, what Delilah hath done this ? 

Who could not understand the heavy draft from the 
south, drawn upon northern liberties, previous to the 
last presidential election, and which was most basely 
honoured, by contending politicians of all parties, vy- 
ing for southern favour, by way of unheard-of abuse in 
a civilized land, of their own northern fellow-citizens, 
and even by threatening northern freemen (for the mere 
exercise of their undoubted constitutional rights,) with 
gag-law, with chains, and with death? Can it indeed 
be possible, in order to effect their own ends, that slave- 
holders and their abettors can ever again raise the " hue 
and cry" to any purpose against abolitionists, as being 
a reckless and bloodthirsty set of men ! ! ? How long 
will the north sacrifice her own citizens on this bloody 
Moloch of southern slavery? 

The doctrine which of late has been more than inti- 
mated from various quarters of our country, as being 
correct, that the mere impulse of the will, for the time 
being, of every community, or neighbourhood, is supe- 
rior to, and should prevail over all written laws, and 
constitutions, is unfounded and dangerous in the ex- 
treme. Indeed, it is but another name for the watch- 
word, " down with all laws ;" let anarchy and brute- 
force riot through the land ; let every man arm himself 
with deadly weapons of self-defence, for his life, his 
family, and his property. 

26* 



306 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

Fellow-countrymen, shall we not firmly and timely 
resist, this current of danger, ruin, and death, to all that 
our fathers so nobly won for us? Would not our de- 
parted fathers' blood, which purchased our dear bought 
liberties, cry aloud from their tombs, to warn their sons 
of the threatened approach of so deadly an enemy? 
And will not the sons of sires so noble, arise in time, and 
with weapons of truth, tempered with a spirit of philan- 
thropy and patriotism, repel the invader ? Or are we, in- 
deed, sunk so low, that we can look quietly on and behold 
the foe, thus wantonly revelling upon relics so sacred ? 
Ought not all who venerate the ashes of the slain for our 
freedom ; all who love their country, and their fellow-men, 
to stand erect, and manfully contribute whatever of in- 
fluence they possess, to roll back this tide of desolation? 
Who cannot see, that he who connives at, and encou- 
rages mobs, by holding out the idea that they must be 
right, because they " represent the popular will," must 
be aiming a most fatal blow to our only safeguards, the 
institutions of our fathers? Whose property, whose 
family, whose life, can be safe amid such a state of 
things ? You ask me, if I am alarmed ? I answer, it 
is the part of wisdom, to prevent a coming evil, even 
when we feel conscious that we possess a remedy, or 
an alternative, should it come. For one, I only speak 
the language of thousands, when I say, that I always 
did, as a general political principle, most heartily ap- 
prove, with proper qualifications, of that " good Jack- 
sonian doctrine," " to ask for nothing but what is right, 
and submit to nothing wrong." One of my most sacred 
and constitutional rights is the freedom of speech, which 
I cannot under any circumstances whatever surrender, 



ILLUSTRATED. 307 

Even the " Union" itself, as much as I have idolized it, 
as a broad foundation of future national greatness, com- 
pared with this first best boon of heaven, would be to it, 
as a grain of sand to the globe. 

An eminent statesman once said, " his opinions, like 
every man's, were public stock, and express them he 
would, let the consequences be what they might ; for the 
precise results, he said, of the free expression of his 
honest sentiments he could not feel himself bound to 
know." My property, character, and all, are light in 
the balance of this first and last right of all rights, the 
freedom of speech. The slaveholding, or man-stealing, 
and man-robbing institution, aside from its being fraught 
in all its hideous features, with the most cruel "inhu- 
manity to man," by violently wresting from him all his 
inborn and inalienable rights, and above all, the u centre 
right " of all rights, the right to himself, is a most power- 
ful political engine, from its vastly partial and unequal 
scale of representations between non-slaveholding and 
slaveholding states, founded entirely on this abhorrent 
and despotic institution of slavery, which is most rapidly 
swallowing up northern liberties into the very vortex of 
slaveholding despotism. On this subject, a writer pos- 
sessed of a high order of talents, and sound patriotism, 
remarks, that " under the first census of the United 
States, the freemen of the slaveholding states had the 
privilege of electing thirteen more representatives to 
congress than political equality, with the non-slavehold- 
ing states would have given them ; and the legislatures 
of the first mentioned states, of designating thirteen more 
electors of president and vice-president, than the same 
equality would have given them. Under the last census 



308 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

in the equality is nearly in the same proportion, though 
the number of representatives and electors have greatly 
increased. 

The extra representatives in congress, and also the 
presidential electors for property in our fellow-men will 
be thirty in 1840. 

In Virginia, the political power of five of her free- 
men, in respect to the same important offices, is equal 
to seven freemen in the state of New-York. The 
relative power of the freemen in the other states being 
greater in proportion to the increase of the number of 
human beings, deprived of all rights in the former. 

In consequence of the admission of slavery into the 
three new states west of the Mississippi, they send 
three representatives to Congress, and designate 
three electors of our chief magistrate, more than they 
could claim by any equitable apportionment. 

This is the reason, too, together with the fact, that at 
every great political movement in the nation, (as at the 
last presidential election ; Missouri, and the tariff ques- 
tions, &c. &c.) the slave states always immediately 
rallying on this common ground of interest, (entirely 
regardless of their usual party lines,) and forming one 
"mighty phalanx;" why, these states, with but about 
one-fourth part of the freemen in the Union, have al- 
ways been enabled, to a great extent, to give law and 
tone to the nation!! This is also the reason, if not 
timely counteracted, why slavery, to sustain itself, 
with ail its dreadful oppressions, will rapidly convert 
our nominally free government into an entire slavehold- 
ing despotism, both for the " bleached and the un- 



ILLUSTRATED. 309 

bleached." * The artful pretext will be to support the 
Union. This may take with the north to their ultimate 
ruin ! ! " Ought any more new states," asks this writer, 
" with such unequal and ill-founded political advantages, 
to be admitted into the Union? Can any well-meaning 
citizen," continues this able writer, patriot, and states- 
man, " excuse himself to his own love of liberty, and 
say, that we ought not to explain, set up, and to defend 
our equal rights 1 That we ought not to speak, and 
write, and publish the truth on slavery, so intimately 
affecting our interests and our duties not only to the 
enslaved, but to ourselves and our posterity?" 

Who does not see that the despotic system of poli- 
tical representation for property in man is such, that 
even one slaveholder, give him slaves enough, might 
politically own and rule millions of nominal freemen ? 
Indeed, it is now virtually done by comparatively few 
slaveholders, with their 500 and their 1000 slaves a- 
piece ! ! 

Southern politicians well understand this undue poli- 
tical advantage which they hold over the nominally free 
states, and they are determined, if possible, to maintain 
it, by continuing to blind the north on the whole subject 
of slavery, by suppressing free discussion upon it, and 
also by perpetuating and extending this most diabolical 
system of grinding the poor coloured people under their 
iron hoof of despotism. And they would fain seem 
willing to make these wretched victims of their cruel 
power, who are now as their footstool, but the stepping- 

* The language of a slaveholding governor, in making this 
same prediction to show that white laboureis in this country must 
all come to slavery in twenty-five years, 



310 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

stone of other footstools of a lighter hue. " Slavery is 
the best basis of freedom ," exclaims Calhoun and 
JVl'Duffie. The watchword of slavery is, that all must 
bow down to this idol, coloured or uncoloured, north or 
south, east or west. 

The free states having at present forty-four votes 
majority in both houses in Congress ; notwithstanding 
the very great inequality of slaveholding and non- 
slaveholding representation, should there prove to be 
sufficient intelligence and virtue in the great body of 
the people to bring their clear constitutional power 
successfully and happily to bear, in abolishing slavery 
in the District of Columbia, in the territories, 
and to abolish the inter-state slave traffic ; they 
might yet do much, (perfectly honourable, being al- 
together consistent with every particle of plighted 
faith, which can possibly be found to be, even the 
most scrupulously expressed or implied,) towards pre- 
serving their own liberties, saving the nation from ulti- 
mate and absolute despotism, and at the same time take 
an important step towards relieving our suffering coun- 
trymen from their heavy and grievous bondage. This 
would still be giving slaveholders all the unequal and 
despotic political advantage they so tenaciously claim 
by what they call their slave representation. 

Many of our northern statesmen have unquestionably 
long seen this vast inequality of northern and southern 
political rights, but dared not patriotically proclaim it, 
lest the people should not appreciate their views and 
sustain them. But there is hope, whether politicians 
do it or not, that the people, in their might, are " now 
coming to the rescue of liberty." Many northern 
party politicians have also undoubtedly seen this, and 



ILLUSTRATED. 311 

have desired it should so continue, and not even be 
looked into and discussed by the people ; for the very 
obvious reason, that they were either then enjoying, or 
expecting soon to enjoy, the ill-gotten spoils of slavery 
in common with southern slaveholding politicians, by 
way of offices of emolument within the gift of the whole 
amalgamated Union. Nay, more ! Some of this 
class at the north, in hopes by it still to enjoy the pol- 
luted spoils arising from this unhallowed partnership 
with slaveholding politicians, have gone to great and 
unwarrantable lengths in abusing and oppressing north- 
ern freemen who were endeavouring to exercise their 
unquestionable constitutional rights, by looking into, and 
investigating this subject, in immediate connexion with 
the great philanthropic subject of universal emancipa- 
tion. This great abuse of freemen has been carried 
on, too, by wily politicians, under the very plausible 
pretext of the wonderful patriotism of " preserving the 
Union ;" just as though the Union could not be pre- 
served, and the freedom of speech and the press still be 
sacredly maintained. 

What will the " sovereign people " say to all this 1 
Will they barter away their right of speech for golden 
but visionary promises, or " sell their birthright for a 
mess of pottage V 

Which did such time-serving politicians probably care 
most about in thus profanely trampling on freemen's 
rights, — " preserving the Union," or preserving their 

" LOAVES AND FISHES V 1 

It ought ever to be remembered, by every freeman 
who would still enjoy liberty, that he who advocates 
even the Union itself, at the dreadful and fatal sacrifices 



312 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

of the right of speech, the right of petition, and the lib- 
erty of the press, — whatever his opinions or his motives 
may be, — is in reality clearly advocating the doctrine of 
slavery for all (not freedom,) regardless of colour. And 
should such a doctrine be suffered to prevail by artful 
politicians blinding the eyes of the people, the sequel 
will most unquestionably prove it to be so. 

As much as we have idolized the Union as a great 
bulwark of freedom, independence, and of national fame 
and glory ; and as much as we may desire to become 
a great and a powerful people among the nations of the 
earth, still let us not be deceived in this all-important 
question of our own liberties. 

The idea of a Union that associates vassalage and 
slavery with it, not freedom, instead of charming, should 
at once horrify every lover of rational liberty. To be 
sure, we idolize power, but do we not idolize liberty 
still more ? What independent freemen would not pre- 
fer freedom, even in the " dens and the caves of the 
earth," to kneeling down and worshipping at the foot- 
stool of despotic power? Many of our own countrymen, 
by the cruel oppressions of their fellows, have often been 
forced from the abodes of human society, to take refuge 
in the caves and swamps of republican America, secret- 
ed days, and working nights for food. 

And again I say, let us not be deceived ; for whatever 
interested and ambitious politicians may say to us through 
a press, which may be prostituted to their own purposes 
of power and self-aggrandizement over the people, if we 
would remain a free people, we must forever hold the 
great constitutional and righteous principles of the free- 
dom of speech, liberty of the press, and the right of pe- 



ILLUSTRATED. 313 

tition, as much more sacred, and as much higher, than 
even the " Union itself," as the very Heavens (to speak 
with reverence) are higher than the earth. 

I do insist, that in this " would-be free republic," the 
question of Union itself should never be suffered to take 
the lead of the great safeguard principles of all rational 
liberty, " the unabridged freedom of speech, and the 
liberty of the press, and the right of petition." It has 
certainly been most painful to every consistent lover of 
rational freedom, that the question, even of " Union," 
over these very first and only saving principles, has been 
holding, comparatively, too great a prominence in the pub- 
lic mind, by means of an extraneous and a forestalling 
political influence, which has been altogether inconsis- 
tent with the origin and broad principles of all civil liberty. 

Union itself, of mere territory, if bound together, not 
only with slaveholding or lynching cords, but with strong 
bands of iron and steel, would not, of itself, constitute 
liberty, but might constitute the strongest and heaviest 
bonds of slavery. To act upon such a principle merely, 
would be like keeping the eye upon the mere superstruc- 
ture of some splendid and stately edifice, while the pil- 
lars upon which it stood, constituting its entire founda- 
tion, were rapidly crumbling to the earth from beneath 
it. How would one appear in such a case, if, while his 
own idolatrous eye was gazing intently with rapture and 
delight upon the dome itself, his own right hand was 
hewing down its only foundation, strength, and supports ? 

But, to unfold, and to sustain these great first prin- 
ciples of rational liberty, is most emphatically the appro- 
priate work of the people ; for most public men virtually 
act upon the doctrine of instruction from their constitu- 

27 



314 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ents, and seldom even warn the " dear people " of ap- 
proaching dangers, if such warning would be likely to 
obscure their own bright prospects of political prefer- 
ment. Hence, we must see the absolute necessity of 
the " people themselves " being informed, as well as vir- 
tuous, if they would be free. Indeed, any thing short 
of universal intelligence, as well as virtue, among the 
people, tends to aristocracy, and ultimately to despotism 
itself. The people must, and I hope will, think for 
themselves, and trust to no "great leader" to teach them, 
or to think for them. 

We may trust our property, when we will, to another, 
but not our liberties ; for they have been purchased at 
too dear a rate. They are the price of blood ; the 
blood of our fathers and our kindred ; too sacred to be 
bartered away, or credited out, on any mortal security 
whatever. 

My mind, for one, is fully made up, that we have 
now, and shall continue to have, northern aspiring poli- 
ticians, of all parties, who, to accomplish their own am- 
bitious purposes, will try to hush the north into silence 
on the subject of slavery ; if the people would listen to 
the syren song, and believe, until the moment, their 
own liberties are writhing in the very folds of that same 
dreadful southern anaconda : indeed, even now, whose 
life or property is hardly safe from the foul fiend of slav- 
ery or his emissaries, when he speaks out boldly, as he 
ought to speak, on this curse of our country, and scourge 
to our fellow-man. The very nature of the institution 
of southern slavery, from the vast advantage it gives the 
south, on the scale of representation, and from the effect 
the institution has to unite all the slave States as one 



ILLUSTRATED. 315 

vast state on this subject, (however divided they may 
be on others,) gives the south already an unreasonable 
controlling ascendency over the north. Owing to the 
institutions of slavery, this great nation has long been 
rigidly governed by an inconsiderable minority. This 
certainly will be like a mountain weight upon us, if slav- 
ery shall continue to increase. The north, while they 
have been astonished at it, have not generally fully un- 
derstood why the south have so long, and do still, exert 
an influence so preponderating, so tremendous and ap- 
palling, in our national councils. The non-slaveholding 
States have men in the national councils fully equal, if 
not superior, to the slaveholding States ; but what do they 
avail? The north may rest assured, that just so long 
as slavery continues with its power that it now holds, 
just so long it is destined to live virtually under a slave- 
holding President (though with the mock name republi- 
can ;) or rather the north, so long as slavery exists in 
the nation, is in every sense as really destined to look 
up to slaveholders for their most gracious condescension, 
to dictate, by virtue of their human property, to mil- 
lions of nominal freemen, who shall be their rulers, as 
the Canadas are, to look to England to send them over 
governors from the Royal Family, against which many 
Americans have, quite recently, so loudly protested. 
Let the people but carefully watch the movements of 
those who so adroitly pull the political wires behind the 
scene, and they will soon be satisfied of this. 

Though I have for years been aware, to some extent, 
of the insidious windings about us of that dreaded, and 
dreadful foe to man (slavery,) but not having been in 
possession of all the statistics of the encroachments of 



316 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

this monsterupon our liberties, never had I supposed that 
he had already so entirely enfolded us in his hideous 
coils, as the mid-day sun of truth, which recently shone 
so brightly in the Senate chamber of the United States, 
so clearly discovered to us, from that able and patriotic 
senator, Mr. Davis, from Massachusetts, (a State al- 
ways first in the cause of liberty,) while so manfully 
opposing the passage of the great nullfier's subtle and 
ominous nullification, slavery, and Texas resolutions. 
The extract itself which follows, from that valuable 
speech against the passage of resolutions so disgraceful 
and degrading to a free people, even more than sustains 
all the opinions I have ever advanced in relation to our 
servile dependence upon slaveholding power. 

" I ask," says Mr. Davis, " whether the great slave 
interest is to dissolve the Union 1 I appeal again to 
your recollections, and to those of the senator from 
South Carolina, (Calhoun,) and ask you whether an in- 
terest so powerful as to have majorities in both houses, 
and to maintain its ascendency in the government, is 
likely to have occasion to secede from the Union through 
fear or oppression? Sir, this interest (slavery) has 
ruled the destinies' of the republic. For FORTY out 
of forty-eight years, it has given us a President from 
its own territory and of its own selection. I do not 
advert to this in the tone of complaint, for it has been 
done at the ballot-box ; hut as a proof of its great 
strength, tact, and skill, and of the extraordinary pre- 
dominance it holds over all other interests, bending and 
shaping them to its purposes. During all this time, it 
has not only had a President sustaining its own peculiar 
views of public policy, but through him, has held and 



ILLUSTRATED. 317 

used, in its own way, the whole organization of all the 
departments, and all the vast and controlling patronage 
incident to that office, to aid it in carrying on its views 
and policy, as well as to protect and secure to it every 
advantage. 

" Let us explore a little further, sir," says this states- 
man, standing on the elevated and constitutional rights 
of American citizens, *' and see how the houses of Con- 
gress have been organized. For THIRTY years out 
of thirty-six years, that interest (slavery) has placed 
its own speaker in the chair of the other house, thus 
securing the organization of committees, and the great 
influence of that station. And, sir, while all other in- 
terests have, during part of the time, had the chair in 
which you preside assigned to them, as an equivalent 
for these great concessions ; yet, in each year, when a 
President pro tem. is elected, who, upon the contin- 
gencies mentioned in the constitution, will be the Pre- 
sident of the United States, that interest (slavery) has 

INVARIABLY GIVEN US THAT OFFICER!!! Look, I be- 

seech you," continues this able and faithful senator, 
" through all the places of honour, of profit, and privi- 
lege ; and there you will find the representatives of this 
interest (slavery) in numbers that indicate its influence. 
Does not, then, this interest (slavery) hold the destinies 
of this republic in its own hands? Does it (slavery) not 
rule, guide, and adapt public policy to its own views, 
and fit it to suit the action and products of its own 
labour] Sir, I know that the politicians of the slave 
country sometimes disagree about men, and measures, 

of MINOR CONSIDERATION ; but On the GREAT INTEREST 

of slave labour, and the protection of slave property, 

27* 



318 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

they stand firmly together, and, like the Macedonian 
phalanx, shoulder to shoulder, gather around it (slave- 
ry), and, by mighty and concerted efforts, give it (sla- 
very) the lead in public affairs against all opposition. 
Sir, how can I better explain its all-pervading influence 
than to declare again that it (slavery) moves this govern- 
ment of fifteen millions of souls, great and energetic as 
it is, and disproportionate as is the slaveholding popu- 
lation to that of the free states 1 

" With this mighty power in your hands, with proof 
at every vote taken in this capital of your ability to con- 
tinue it, can you of this interest entertain apprehensions 
for your safety 1 What more do you claim ? What 
more can you have ? How can those who hold power be 
oppressed by those icho have none? How can those 
who hold the powers of this government, fear it? I 
cannot believe there is occasion in the mind of any one 
belonging to this interest (slavery) for the dissolution 
of the Union, unless he be ambitious, unprincipled, and 
without hope of advancement ! ! It will be reasonable 
enough to meet danger from other quarters when it 
threatens mischief. 

" But, Mr. President, I must not omit some other 
proofs of the towering magnitude of the slave interest 
here. It claims to itself whatever of merit there is in 
the overlhroiv of the policy of internal improvements, and 
of having broken down and rendered unpopular the 
policy of so assessing and collecting the revenue as to 
protect and encourage free labour. Over this last great 
interest, it (slavery) claims a signal triumph for having 
dejeated it. I need not multiply proofs of the zeal, ac- 
tivity, and singular success of those who have managed 



ILLUSTRATED. 319 

this interest, (slavery.) The integrity oj the Union is, 
probably, quite as important to the slave territory, as to 
the free. I cannot, therefore," said this distinguished 
senator, " credit the suggestion that the people of the 
south are so blinded to their interests as to court so 
calamitous a result. What then is it that shakes this 
great republic, so that it reels upon its foundation ; so 
that we are brought to a solemn pause here in the 
public business, and are gravely and solemnly devising 
measures to redeem us from threatened ruin'? Sir," 
continues this senator, " we have a set of resolutions, 
nearly connected, that are to go forth with healing 
power to calm the public mind, to allay 4 the outbreak- 
ings of fanaticism,' and to tranquillize the raging ele- 
ments. The opinion of the majority of the senate is 
to work out this extraordinary result. But I again ask, 
what it is that we are thus contending with? What 
that threatens calamity, and is thus easily subdued ? It 
is the abolitionists, that come here in no very alarming 
numbers, though the course pursued here has greatly in- 
creased the aggregate, not to threaten the government 
or to menace the Union, — no, sir, not at all ; but humbly 
to entreat and pray you to abolish slavery in the District 
of Columbia, where, I believe, there are about 40,000 
people of colour. 

»' Sir, they have claimed nothing, but the right to 
pray and beg of the senate to use its power for this 
purpose. What more humble and less objectionable 
right can be claimed by man, than the right of respect- 
fully entreating'? Yet, sir, the exercise of this poor 
privilege has brought us into grave deliberation, to res- 
cue the Union from impending dissolution. Sir, I can- 



320 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

not participate in these fears, nor persuade myself that 
such causes will produce such results, or that the Union 
will be attacked, unless the provocation is given here. 

" But, sir, what is to be hoped from these resolu- 
tions? What are their healing properties, their power 
to assuage resentments, and to allay irritated passions? 
Are these resolutions agitating the matter to any useful 
purpose? I read them," said this senator; "and while 
a part of them seemed tome to contain certain doctrines 
on the subject of slavery according with the sentiments 
of the mover, the residue seemed to be a mere avowal 
of a. political creed. Nor being quite certain that I was 
right in the matter, I was comforted when my friend 
from Delaware (Mr. Bayard) rose. They professed to 
treat of abolition ; but the worthy senator declared that, 
on lifting the veil, he had discovered 'nullification' un- 
der the first of the series. He pointed the little fellow 
out to us, hidden snugly under a thin covering of ' State 
right gauze.'' " 

This senator has here made a sober, but to every in- 
telligent and consistent lover of liberty, a most fearfully 
startling exhibition of facts, in relation to the tremendous 
and preponderating power of the slaveholding interest in 
this nation, both south and north, and of its constantly 
increasing aggression upon all our liberties. In a plain 
view of facts so astounding, in addition to a long dark 
catalogue of others of a like character, and many of a 
still deeper hue which might be adduced, and fairly 
chargeable upon slavery ; how can any American citizen, 
and more especially in the States called free, even if 
he care nothing for the liberation of two and a half mil- 
lions of his enslaved countrymen, ever again have the 



ILLUSTRATED. 321 

confidence to hold up his head and speak tauntingly of 
the abject dependence of distant colonies of Great Bri- 
tain, or the servile dependence of any other colonies 
upon their royal head at home ! 

Let no independent American citizen indulge the de- 
grading and dangerous thought for a moment, that these 
are grave matters not to be spoken of. Shall it, indeed, 
be said, that an " independent and sovereign people," 
shall not dare to know their true political as well as 
their moral condition? Let such an idea be scouted 
from a land of democratic freemen, to its own hiding 
place, underneath the footstool of despotic power; but 
let us, Americans, ever bear in mind, that a free govern- 
ment can be maintained in no other way than by the un- 
abridged and free exercise of all our inalienable rights, 
and that these Heaven-descended rights consist in one 
man having the same, and as perfect a right to speak 
against each and every existing law of his country, or 
even against the whole constitution of his government if 
he please, as another man has to speak in favour of them 
all ; " meanwhile," holding ourselves amenable to con- 
stitutional law only for any abuse of our rights. A sound 
writer and an able statesman remarks, " that the cause 
of freedom of speech, is the cause of universal man." 
" Leave this" said he, " and take what else you will away, 
and all else left is but a splendid mockery." Another 
able writer, speaking prospectively : " should the right 
of speech in our country ever be taken away," says, the 
historian would record our doom thus : u Here rose the 
noblest and freest empire ever reared by man. Based 
upon principles that were to regenerate the earth, and 
having poured out his own best blood like water in vin- 



322 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

dication of the rights of man, it strangely became the 
persecutor of speech, and the enslaver of opinion — it 
threw itself across the orbit of human destiny, and of 
eternal providence, and the mighty vision faded from the 
world." 

All who like the slavery of the coloured people, and 
are also acting in a way to prepare uncoloured peo- 
ple for abject vassallage, will of course delight in this 
our servile dependence, and still cry peace ! peace I 
do'nt go too fast. 

The captivating pretext for all this, will be to preserve 
our "glorious Union." 

But be not deceived ; — who would exchange the 
meat of the cocoa for the mere shell ? 

And while it is our inalienable moral right, and our 
high moral duty, loudly to testify against all wrongs and 
oppressions, wherever they are known on the face of 
the earth, still the world will cry out with one voice, " it 
does not become that dark shareholding America to 
throw stones at her neighbours too hard, while she is so 
grossly exposed through her glass house, to the eyes of 
all mankind." 

What high-minded, well-informed, and reflecting 
American, must not feel humbled under this view, that 
his country has indeed been imbibing a deadly poison 
into her whole constitution, which is rapidly undermining 
her constitution, and paralizing her arm in the cause of 
civil liberty, throughout the earth ? 

With regard to " going too fast " in the righteous 
cause of holy freedom, we will adduce a case for con- 
sideration a moment, and see how it looks. We will 
suppose some of our own dearest friends had been kid* 



ILLUSTRATED. 323 

napped, and were now in cruel bondage ; should we think 
that people, (men, women, or children,) in the country 
where they were thus enslaved, could well go too fast, 
in creating a just, and an uncompromising public senti- 
ment in favour of their immediate unconditional libera- 
tion ? Would not this be a just, and a righteous doc- 
trine for them to inculcate 1 

The principles and proceedings of abolitionists, have 
been greatly misapprehended, and as often most slan- 
derously and meanly misrepresented, after they were 
understood. 

Anti-abolitionists sometimes with their own favourite 
projects (political or pecuniary) in view, have frequent- 
ly represented abolitionists, as a set of " base, weak, 
fanatical, and incendiary men, trampling on all the laws, 
and desecrating the constitution of the land, aiming to 
exite the slaves to insurrection, and to wrest them by 
violence from the iron grasp of their masters." 

Now, nothing could be more foreign to the truth ; and 
I trust that American history, will yet show abolition- 
ists to have been greater adherents, and more consistent 
friends to the constitution, and the laws of their coun- 
try, and to all their countrymen, than any other class of 
American citizens. 

And I trust it will also be seen, that they were sane 
men ; that they judged correctly, (notwithstanding the 
darkness and the clouds lowering about them,) of the 
virtue of the American people, and of the amount of 
moral influence, in the nation which might be brought 
successfully to bear against the great sin, as well as 
dangerous and threatening political evil of slavery in the 
land. 



324 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

But if the cause of freedom be destined to be crush- 
ed by despotic slaveholding power, and slavery and des- 
potism to triumph forever over this land, it will still be 
recorded on the annals of all time, that the abolitionsts 
were the true and genuine friends of freedom in Ame- 
rica, but that they judged too favourably of the amount 
of moral power and virtue among the people, for this, 
with the blessing of Heaven, their only reliance ; as in 
other countries, would forever sweep slavery from ours. 

How much soever some may dislike the degrading 
vassalage to the slaveholding- power of the south, there 
can be no alternative, while slavery shall continue. 

Read the anxiety and management of the south, still 
to increase her already alarming slaveholding power. 
T will here insert two southern resolutions, for the ben- 
efit of any who may yet be incredulous on the subject, 
that southern politicians, at least, are actually not only 
in favour of pkrpetually enslaving the coloured 
people, but that they are also determined, if possible, to 
enslave the uncoloured of the north, by the annexation 
of Texas to the Union, (as soon as they can catch the 
north napping,) as a vast slave-country, and then make 
their horrid institution of slavery, a most fearful and 
bloody engine of political power, to control the desti- 
nies of millions, now called freemen, with its despotic 
iron rod. This rod of despotism, has just been mena- 
cingly shook over the northern people, by way of sena- 
torial, slaveholding, nullification, "gag-law" resolu- 
tions. 

The two resolutions, first alluded to, among many 
which might be given, were recently adopted by an ex- 
tra session of the Mississippi Legislature, on the sub- 



ILLUSTRATED. 325 

ject of the admission of Texas into the Union, as a 
slave State. 

" Resolved, That the annexation of Texas to this Re- 
public, is essential to the future safety and repose of the 
southern States of this Confederacy." 

" Again resolved, That our Senators in Congress be 
instructed, and our Representatives be requested, to use 
their best endeavours to procure the annexation of Tex- 
as to the United States, as early as possible." 

If the people shall faithfully continue to flood Con- 
gress with petitions against the annexation of Texas, 
14 read, or unread," political men, from political policy, 
may hold off the subject. 

And again, whoever thinks the slaves could not take 
care of themselves, or that the slaveholders are very 
anxious to emancipate them as soon as " expedient," 
(as they say,) let them listen impartially to what the 
same Legislature have said to their constituents without 
one dissenting voice, on the importance for the south to 
annex Texas to the Union, in order to perpetuate their 
so much beloved institution of slavery, time without 
end, to themselves and their posterity, and they will be 
undeceived. , 

The frank admission of how much slavery has done 
for them, and how much they love it, is to be found in a 
small portion of their famous and laboured address, 
showing how indispensable Texas is to the south to sus- 
tain slavery, or as they say, in softer language, " system" 
or " peculiar institution," and reads as follows, to wit : 
" The committee feel authorized to say, that this system 
(slavery) is cherished by our constituents as the very 
palladium of their prosperity and happiness ; and what- 

28 



326 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ever " ignorant fanatics " may elsewhere conjecture, the 
committee are fully assured, upon the most diligent ob- 
servation and reflection on the subject, that the south 
does not possess within her limits a blessing with which 
the affections of her people are so closely entwined and so 
completely enjibred, and whose value is more highly ap- 
preciated, than that which we are now considering, (to 
wit, slavery.) Under the influence of this system, 
(slavery,) the rich forests of the south, and south-west, 
have given way to the cultivated fields, teeming with the 
richest products of agriculture. Villages, towns, and 
cities, have sprung up as if by magic. 

The arts and sciences have been made to flourish 
where the barbarian would alone have been heard to re- 
sound, or where savage beasts of prey would yet find a 
quiet asylum. To this system (slavery) we owe more 
than we can well estimate of domestic comfort and social 
happiness! To it (slavery) we are chiefly indebted for 
the lofty spirit of liberty which so eminently distinguish- 
ed the proud and high-minded inhabitants of this re- 
gion ! " To this system (slavery) the happiness of the 
white man has been augmented beyond calculation." 
Here endeth this part of the chapter ! Now, the fore- 
going sentiments, couched in the peculiar phraseology, 
"a lofty spirit of liberty," " proud and high-minded in- 
habitants," having been produced by slavery, however 
oreat the appearance of the solecism, still, on reflection, 
produces the conviction as being in sentiment remark- 
bly analogous ; for who doubts, for instance, that infi- 
delity, if it could produce any sentiments at all about 
Christianity, that they would be both " proud and lofty 
ones ?" This kind of proud and lofty republicanism 



ILLUSTRATED. 327 

which the Mississippi " gentlemen " of their State Legis- 
lature, say, is immediately and alone produced by their 
system of slavery, is only of the same character of the 
slaveholder's republicanism generally, that is, " that 
slavery is the best basis of freedom," and is about as 
consistent as that which a gentleman witnessed, practi- 
cally carried out, not long since, in Alabama, on the oc- 
casion of the celebration of American independence, 
when a slave was made to carry the banners of freedom, 
(being too hard labour, I suppose, for the delicate hands 
of slaveholding gentlemen,) on which was inscribed in 
blazing capitals, " Where liberty is, there is my country." 

It is certainly worthy o£ nntirp, that whenever southern 
men have occasion to speak of the horrid and revolting 
business of slaveholding, (as if conscious of guilt,) by an 
ingenious tact, avoid the use of the word " slavery," and 
couch it in soft and smooth terms, such as " system," 
peculiar or domestic institution, &c. Sometimes also, 
they attempt to dignify it by calling it the "patriarchal 
institution." I do not wonder at all this, for doubtless, 
that dreadful term slavery, alias " man- stealing," grates 
very harshly even upon their own ears, and sometimes, 
perhaps, even upon their consciences, if not entirely callous 
and " seared as with a hot iron" 

And again, here is a precious little extract from a late 
leading southern paper. A delicious treat for northern 
pro-slavery ears no doubt. 

44 The policy of the south is not to produce agitation 
and controversy (or in other words, to tolerate the 
freedom of speech and the press,) about this matter, 
(Texas,) but so to manage it that northern members of 
Congress may take their seats unshackled by instruction." 



328 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

This kind of secrecy is rank and dark aristocracy, or 
slaveholding despotism I 

It may here be asked, did not our venerable fathers 
suffer the institution of slavery to enter into the federal 
compact? My opinion is decidedly in the affirmative; 
though a stranger to the history of our government might 
hold up the high and broad principles of freedom which 
run throughout our constitution, in immediate connex- 
ion with those contained in the declaration of our inde- 
pendence, and never dream of such a thing. 

I cheerfully make this admission, because I desire to 
base every argument, and every deduction, upon nothing 
but. truth ; but as theologians universally admit that no 
one can understand the strict import of every passage in 
the Bible, without a familiar knowledge of the history of 
the times in which the inspired volume was penned ; 
so it is with this and all similar questions. And as I 
have before alluded to the history of the times antece- 
dent to, and at the time of the adoption of the constitu- 
tion ; and also to the tone and spirit in the convention 
on the subject of slavery, to show that it was most clearly 
the universal expectation, and, as all might then have 
well supposed, the well grounded confidence that slavery 
had indeed received its death-blow, and would soon " die 
of consumption " (as was the expression of a member of 
the convention.") 

Suffice it here to say again, that the forfeited plighted 
faith is altogether on the part of those States which, in- 
stead of going home from the convention, according to 
express understanding, and going to work to give all 
their fellow-men their freedom, as the northern members 
did, they went home, and in the place of rearing cattle, 



ILLUSTRATED. 329 

have ever since been rearing men, women, and chil- 
dren, by thousands and tens of thousands, as articles 
of commerce for exportation. 

If we are permitted to judge at all from the sentiments 
on record, in relation to this subject, of the worthy men 
composing that convention, we might well imagine their 
grief and amazement, should they rise from their tombs, 
and instead of a land of universal freedom, for which 
they had struggled hard seven years, behold a land al- 
most of universal slavery. 

Though the spirit and the general sentiments of the 
constitution would seem most clearly to condemn slav- 
ery in every form, yet there can be no doubt but that the 
convention intended to tolerate the holding of slaves in 
the States merely, by their fixing the slave representation. 
But they went even thus far, after forty days debate, 
in a blind indirect manner, and with great reluctance, 
evidently feeling conscious that there was a wrong about 
it ; still they unquestionably did what they thought was 
best under all the circumstances, from the universal ex- 
pression that all slavery would speedily be banished from 
the whole beloved land for whose universal freedom they 
had so long toiled. 

And if, in going no farther than this, in compromis- 
ing human liberty, under these peculiar circumstances of 
hope, they clearly did it with compunctions, and with ex- 
treme reluctance, who can dare cast the odium upon their 
sacred memories, against the clearest possible testimony 
to the contrary, that they meant to provide, as some pre- 
tend, for slavery to exist forever in this land, by giving 
slaveholders, in any possible way, the power to enslave 
the people during their pleasure, at the very seat of go- 

28* 



330 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

vernment, in all the territories of the United States ; 
and to sell them in droves by thousands from one end of 
the Union to the other? Not a syllable of even an in- 
timation of any of these things can be found on record. 
Congress has an unquestionable right at once to stop 
them all forever. And this clear constitutional right it 
is also under the highest possible moral and political ob- 
ligation to exercise without delay, in behalf of the great 
cause of human liberty, in relation to our own country, 
and the world. 

How strangely would some of our southern dema- 
gogues, in their "stump speeches" years gone by, when 
courting the favour of the "plebeians," compare with 
their aristocratic doctrine when defending the divine 
right of slavery, on the ground that the rich have a 
right to own, and to buy and sell the poor like cattle in 
the market, in order to carry out the Calhoun doctrine 
that " slavery is the best basis of freedom." 

For instance, the following- are some of the whole- 
some republican and abolition sentiments, uttered by the 
same man, in an honest and good-natured moment, in 
Congress in 1833, for the " dear people " to read, about 
the time he had his eye upon the Presidential chair, viz. 
" He who earns the money, who digs it out of the earth 
by the sweat of his brow, has a just title to it, against the 
universe. No one has a right to touch it without his 
consent," says this good republican at this particular 
time, " except his government, and that only to the ex- 
tent of its legitimate wants. To take more is robbery." 
Good enough " abolitionism " this, if men would but 
practise what they preach. 

And the great object of abolitionists is, to induce both 



ILLUSTRATED. 331 

the north and the south if possible, to put in practice the 
good theory which they have all preached for more than 
two centuries, viz., that the poor slave, like all men, 
ought to have his liberty and his hard earnings, which 
is but the just reward of the " sweat of his brow." 

While we have preached this noble doctrine to the 
world, and, as it were, kept it to the ear of the poor 
slave, we have broken it to his hope, and conclusively 
proved that, as a nation, we have not really meant what 
we have said ; for, in the mean time, we have added 
seven new slave states, as so many markets for the 
sale and the perpetual enslavement of these same op- 
pressed men and women, whose enslaved and wretched 
condition we have ever been saying we greatly deplored, 
and whose sufferings we deeply commiserated. 

What must an impartial world think of us, who have 
witnessed all along how much at variance have been 
our "preaching and our practice" on this subject of 
human liberty 1 Nay, more ; what will the " God of 
the oppressed" think of us, who cannot be mocked with 
impunity, and who will by no means clear the guilty? 



SECTION XIX. 



"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE I HAVE BEEN AT THE SOUTH, AND I NEVER 
WAS TREATED WITH GREATER KINDNESS AND HOS- 
PITALITY; AND THE MASTERS ALSO TREATED 'THEIR 
SERVANTS' KINDLY, AND THEY APPEARED BRISK AND 
HAPPY." 

Now, I doubt not, many northern people visiting iheir 
friends at the south, have been duped and converted 
over to favour and to apologize for the untold oppres- 
sions of slavery in this way! ! Wonder some of these 
northern visiters, who may not be blessed with all the 
good things of this life, do not at once sell themselves, 
and their posterity forever after them, to some "very 
kind master" as they might make their selection out of 
the whole south and southwest, a vast extent of terri- 
tory, consisting of twelve large slave States. Even this 
poor privilege, of selecting favourite masters, is always 
denied the poor slave ; but he is often sold from bad 
masters to worse ones, by way of malignant punish- 
ment. The doctrine which we sometimes hear, that 
" we should ever praise the bridge that carries us safe 
over," is often unsafe, and sometimes proves very per- 
nicious and dangerous to ourselves and to others. 

In many instances, it may be great wickedness and 
gross deception to commend a man's whole character, 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 333 

because, forsooth, he may have treated us politely,, and 
never to our knowledge injured us. We might, in this 
way, become the disciples and advocates even of known 
robbers and pirates, for even they are often polite and 
liberal to their friends, for obvious reasons ! ! 

And again, the difference between the selected mu- 
latto domestic servants, (which northern visiters mostly 
see,) both in their appearance and the manner in which 
they are treated, bears about the same relation to the 
appearance and treatment of their " ever delving and 
ever whipped slaves," on their plantations, that our pet 
horses at the north, selected by gentlemen out of the 
whole country, at high prices, — kept in the finest condi- 
tion to appear in public occasionally, richly caparisoned, 
to minister to the pride or the pleasure of their owners, 
— do to the horses that are worn down by overworking 
and underfeeding, constantly doing the hardest drudgery 
of the induslrious and laborious farmer and the drayman. 

Were it necessary here, I might go on to detail at 
length the vastly different treatment which the house- 
servants in general receive, and especially in the pre- 
sence of northern visiters, than do the poor field slaves, 
who are ever under the bloody and dreaded lash of their 
heartless and reckless drivers. I may have occasion to 
say something of this hereafter. 



SECTION XX. 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE THERE ARE A GREAT MANY AMIABLE AND 
HIGHLY RESPECTABLE SLAVEHOLDERS, AMONG WHOM 
ARE MANY DISTINGUISHED MINISTERS OF THE GOS- 
PEL, AND OTHER DEVOTED AND PIOUS CHRISTIANS." 

Not long since I read what some might call, in " home- 
ly phrase," a kind of" milk and water" treatise, on the 
subject of slavery.* The author appeared to be a man 
who had lived some time at the south, and who still had 
numerous connexions residing there, most of whom were 
slaveholders ! t 

He evidently intended the work for an anti-slavery 
one, but it was certainly to my mind a curiously com- 
pounded concern of anti and pro-slavery sentiments ! ! 
His heart might have been right in abhorring slavery. 
But if so, he surely lacked the nerve and the moral 
courage to speak out boldly (but kindly) as he ought to 
speak on the subject. He seemed alternately advancing 
and retreating) sinning and repenting throughout his 
whole work!! The peculiarly outrageous and cruel 
slaveholder seemed to be the principal object of all his 
faithful and pointed remarks. But as to the " kind and 
respectable " slaveholders (which he would fain make out 

* I do not say this in derogation to the ability of the author. 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 335 

that most of them were so) they were merely pitied and 
apologized for, and frequently higlily complimented 1 1 We 
should indeed pity even pirates who might be in danger 
every moment of being massacred by the victims of 
their own bloody cruelty. But what should we all think 
of any man who should manifest no other feeling than 
that of pity towards a band of pirates whom he had just 
witnessed massacre or capture an innocent ship's crew ? 
This professed opposer to slavery more than once inti- 
mated, that should all the slaveholders treat their slaves 
as these " kind and respectable slaveholders " did, he was 
not certain that he should oppose slavery at all even in 
the" abstract." Now if this principle be correct, I do 
not see but men of exemplary moral character externally 
are a highly privileged order of beings ; so much so, 
that they may seize upon any one and compel him and all 
his posterity to work forever for them for nothing ; pro- 
vided always, however, that they shall treat their victims 
" kindly " in other respects. Now if we could see one 
advocating this kind of doctrine in earnest, who could 
sympathize much to see him made the first subject of 
its experiment! Yet all this is nothing but American 
slavery with all its drapery torn off, and its " cloven 
foot " exposed to view in all its naked deformity. Now 
I am fully prepared to say, and I hope with all due re- 
gard to virtue and religion and every good quality in 
man, that these same amiable and respectable slavehold- 
ers^ however pious and good their intentions perchance 
may be, are nevertheless the very pillars of the whole 
accursed legalized system of robbery and man-stealing 
which has already so much disgraced and corrupted our 
nation; for take these away, and leave none but the 



336 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

most cruel, openly abandoned, immoral, and outrageous 
ones in the business, the eyes and the hearts of the people 
would then be opened to all the horrors of slavery, and 
the whole country with one accord, both north and south, 
nay, the whole world would at once cry out u the 
rod of the oppressor must be broken, and the captives 
shall go free." The people then would no longer apo- 
logize for the oppressor, nor " choose, nor advocate any 
of his ways." 

The character of the " kind, the ' good,' the amiable and 
the pious" slaveholder apologizes for slavery, and tends 
to cast a shade of respectability over all its cruelties 
and abominations, which now makes it barely suffer- 
able in the world. This would be so in relation to any 
system of wickedness amojig men which can possibly be 
conceived of! For illustration, should all the dealers 
and tipplers in all intoxicating drinks in some town or city 
(whom we will now suppose at least able to attend to 
their business most of the time,) at once become notori- 
ous drunkards about the streets, rapidly ruining them- 
selves and their families ; like an earthquake, it would 
shock and alarm the whole community for its common 
safety; and would probably " instant er " fully convert 
them all over into ** simon pure" cold water folks, and 
perhaps tetotal " abolitionists "for the whole liquid traffic, 
which threatened so speedily their entire destruction. 
The gilded drapery of respectability would thus be 
blown aside, and they would then have occular demon- 
stration from the uncovered sepulchre of pollution, that 
an evil so overwhelming from the necessity of the case 
could no longer be borne. They would all be terrified 
at feeling the very fabric of society trembling and giving 
way from under them. 



illustrated/ 337 

How true it is, " that the children of this world are 
wiser in their generation than the children of light." It 
has always been the case in the world, that when any 
system of business was becoming unpopular, that its 
friends would of course labour to direct the public eye 
to its most respectable patrons and advocates. We all 
know this was remarkably the case when the respect- 
ability of" rum-selling and rum-drinking" was on the 
wane. It is the same now in relation to slavery. 

At the time also when the business of vending lot- 
tery tickets was becoming unpopular in this state, 
how common it was for venders of tickets to present the 
clergy with a ticket now and then, accompanied with 
their compliments, " hoping it would draw a good prize." 
All this was natural enough. It is also natural enough 
to judge whether in most cases it was done to support 
the clergy with a desire thereby to sustain the gospel, or 
to seal up their mouths in the pulpit against the business 
which began to be talked of as a species of gambling. 
The mouths of more clergymen than one in this nation, 
and even northern ones too, are thus sealed up by the 
bribery of slavery in a way which some of them little 
think of. Which act of wickedness and hypocrisy would 
God probably look upon with the greater abhorrence 
and more righteous indignation ; for a Missionary Society 
to receive a package of lottery tickets, and to add the 
avails to its funds, or to receive the pious donation of an 
affectionate wife, and mother, torn from the tender 
embraces of her husband and children in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia by some gracious hand, and by the 
same sainted being, if not in person, yet by proxy, whip- 
ped all the way into the State of Mississippi, or Ala- 

29 



338 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

bama, and there sold for the benefit of said society, with 
her posterity forever after her into endless slavery, where 
it would be death for any living being to teach her and her 
posterity even to read the alphabet, by which they might 
spell out the way of life and salvation ? 

What adds to the " blackness of darkness," of a deed 
so foul, is, that the avails of all this violent destruction 
of human liberty, and human happiness, is to be sanc- 
timoniously applied to the purpose of converting the 
" poor heathen," to the suspicious religion of a dark 
slaveholding nation. 

But let me not be understood, as denominating the 
blessed and benevolent Christian religion in its parity, 
a slaveholding religion, for judgements from on high, 
will doubtless yet fall upon this nation, if this our Heav- 
en-daring reproach, be not unfeignedly repented of, and 
put away from us forever. We have long enough as a 
nation, grieved the God of the oppressed, and insulted 
the Majesty of Heaven and earth, by enslaving and op- 
pressing his poor. 

It certainly would seem to require a great amount of 
self-coniidence, for any minister of the gospel to bear 
up, under the manifest inconsistency, and great absurd- 
ity (which every child sees and feels,) of praying much 
publicly, for the poor heathen abroad, but none at all for 
the millions of the poor heathen at home, worse off, if 
possible, than the poor heathen abroad. When we do 
the one, let us not leave the other undone. 

Even the veriest infidel, let his sentiments about re- 
ligion, or about abolition, be what they may, sees the 
totally irreconcilable inconsistency of all this. Were it 
morally possible for an unbeliever, to be converted to 



ILLUSTRATED. 339 

any kind of Christianity, under such prayers, it would 
most likely be to a " slaveholding " Christianity. And 
with all the light on the subject of slavery, now blazing 
upon us, to say the least, its genuineness would be of a 
very doubtful character. 

However unkindly any reader may receive these 
plainly expressed views, I am still constrained to say, 
they are my irresistible convictions, which I must soon 
expect to meet at the judgement. 



SECTION XXI. 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF * GOOD * SLAVE- 
HOLDERS, WHO WOULD GLADLY EMANCIPATE THEIR 
SLAVES AT ONCE, IF THEIR LAWS WOULD ALLOW 
THEM TO DO SO." 

This is another very plausible, but kindred apology, 
with many others, for the indefinite, or rather endless 
continuance of slavery. Let us together, carefully ex- 
amine this also, and see to what all this too, amounts. 

Grant that the slaveholder*, for fear, in an unguard- 
ed moment, their hearts might relent, to let the bond- 
man go free, have bound themselves up, by the most 
wicked, and penal enactments, not to do so ; it only re- 
minds us of the interrogatory language of the Psalmist, 
addressed to the Almighty, on a similar occasion. 
" Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, 
which frameth mischief by a law ?" 

Is not the same power which enacts a wicked law 
justly held accountable for its immediate abrogation ? 

And does not the anecdote of the little girl, which is 
sometimes told on this occasion, properly apply in this 
case 1 viz. A mother directed a little girl in her absence 
to do up the work about house. On the mother's re- 
turn, the work was still undone, and the little girl's ex- 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 341 

cuse was, that she had been tied up to the table leg. 
Tied up to the table leg, says the astonished mother ! 
Who tied you up, my dear ? 0, I tied myself up. 

But, says one, this is not exactly a parallel case, for 
though these good slaveholders, at the south, who are so 
very anxious to emancipate their slaves, without delay, 
and cannot do it, on account of the law, did once, it is 
true, tie themselves up, but now they are very sorry for 
it ; and though they say the Bible commanded them to 
tie this knot, because slavery is a " patriarchal institu- 
tion," " and the best basis of freedom," yet they are try- 
ing with all their might, to untie it, but find they have 
tied it so hard, that they are utterly unable to do it. 

Now admit all this to be the case, that all these good 
men, are extremely sorry, they thus tied themselves up, 
as the Lord commanded them to do, and that they have 
tried every possible way to disobey God, and give their 
slaves their freedom, even to the ordering of their " nig- 
ger" drivers, to drive them to Canada, where all hu- 
man shackles and manacles, for "no crime in man," 
are forever knocked off; what I would say, is, if these 
good slaveholders, who would gladly without delay, give 
their slaves their liberty, and have tried every possible 
" expedient " to effect it, but that such is the rigour of 
their own made laws, that they can in no wise do it ; one 
of two things, as the natural consequence most clearly 
follows, viz. either that these "good slaveholders," 
(who would, as they say, do right,) should at once do 
right, and no longer impiously charge their iniquity 
upon God, but at once repeal, or totally disregard such 
Heaven daring laws, and do as God plainly commands 
all to do, without an exception of name or circumstance, 

29* 



342 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

or man-serving, and " God-provoking " " expedients," 
without further cavil or delay, to undo the heavy bur- 
dens, break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free, 
and trust in the God of the oppressed, for the conse- 
quence of simply obeying him ; or, that the whole people 
both north and south, who disapprove of such wicked, 
and high-handed oppression, and slavery laws, for both 
black and white, should at once rise en masse, and open 
their mouths boldly, and testify against it, and give the 
oppressor no peace until he will break the yoke, and let 
the oppressed go free. 

The north should do it of course, for they have voted 
with the south for the admission of slave States, with 
these same constitutions. 

For men, thus deliberately, to bind themselves up for- 
ever, by such horrid laws, does it not look like swearing 
eternal allegiance to the " grim demon of darkness ;" for 
should spirits from the abodes of purity, be permitted to 
behold such a state of things, would they not conclude 
it must be the " infernal regions ?" 

Can we not see, moreover, from such unrighteous 
laws, let who may enact them, how deadly hostile the 
very nature and genius of slavery is, to liberty 1 It 
seems to act upon that most miserly principle, of the 
old adage, of " keeping what it's got, and getting what 
it can." 

Suppose for example, that we find ourselves in a 
country, where the laws actually compel us to rob and 
to steal, should we not at once disregard such laws, or 
leave such a country forever ? 

Surely robbing our fellow-men by law, not only of 
all they can be made to earn by the sweat of their brow* 



ILLUSTRATED. 343 

under the bloody lash of the cruel task-master, but of 
their wives and children also, and then stealing the men 
themselves, "from themselves," must of all others con- 
ceivable, by many degrees, be the basest kind of rob- 
bery and theft. 



SECTION XXII. 

"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE A GREAT MANY PEOPLE AT THE NORTH, 
DON'T TREAT THEIR OWN DOMESTICS AS THEY 
OUGHT." 

This all may be true, and when so, is sincerely to be 
regretted, and should at once, be repented of and cor- 
rected, by the good sense, and the good principles of 
community, just as slavery should be in the nation. 

But nevertheless, the objection amounts to just this, 
and nothing more, — that, because we may have some 
dogs in the land which will now and then " bite folks," 
we should not therefore kill or cage up the lions and 
the tigers, that are destroying the people by hundreds 
or by thousands. This same class of objections was 
once urged against the friends of temperance ; that, 
because they were not perfectly temperate in all things, 
therefore the objector would not be found in their " so- 
ciety," neither must the " cold-water folks " say a word 
against the " drunkards and the sots," who were rapidly 
ruining themselves and their families, and were a pest 
in community. Time, however, next to eternity, that 
great " revealer of secrets," has already developed the 
insincerity and the motives of this peculiar objector to 
temperance ; for the moment the standard of tempe- 
rance was raised according to this same objector's own 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 345 

prescription, forgetting what he had been saying and 
doing, he was the very first man (with some noble ex- 
ceptions) to exclaim, " ultraism — too fast, too fast ! ! !" 

These examples are adduced as illustrative merely. 
Men, to our vision, are always too fast, or too slow, in 
any cause to which we stand opposed. In a land of 
serpents, how would a man appear should he take an 
immovable stand, that, because the " serpent killers" 
would not first hunt up and kill off all the more harm- 
less ones without an exception, therefore, if all the 
people in the land should be bitten by rattlesnakes, 
he would not lift his finger to help kill one of them. 

We find objections precisely of this character often 
made, even to becoming Christians. " I ought to be 
a Christian," says one, w and intend to be ; but there is 
Mr. A., or Deacon B., one of your great professors, 
who often does so and so, and whom, I believe, will go 
to destruction •" and therefore, (the English is,) " I am 
determined to do so and so likewise, and be his com- 
pany." 

I have adverted the more freely to all these familiar 
and stereotyped illustrations to all temperance people, 
for the reason that I think every consistent temperance 
man, like a " Delavan," (who has recently nobly taken 
his stand in the anti-slavery ranks,) by the like process 
and dictate of common sense, will also speedily be an 
anti-slavery man. These, and the like objections, most 
clearly indicate very great self-righteousness in the ob- 
jector ; that is, in plain interpretation, " Stand by, for 
I am holier than thou, and will not be found in your 
society." But the light of truth, if not smothered and 
darkened by the hand of tyranny ; like the morning sun 



346 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

upon the dew, will soon scatter all these objections to 
the four winds. 

We freely admit all these encroachments upon others* 
rights, and all kinds of oppression, at the north, or in 
any part of the world, to be wrong, and should at once 
cease ; but when we see men who dwell exclusively 
upon these things, and seem not to know, that, as a 
nation, we have deprived two and a half millions of 
men, women, and children of all their rights, and are 
crushing them to the very earth under our feet ; does it 
not remind us of the priest and Levitish religion, of 
" straining at a gnat and swallowing a camell" 



SECTION XXIII. 

"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE OUR GREATEST STATESMEN AND OUR GREAT- 
EST DIVINES ARE OPPOSED TO ITS DISCUSSION, AND 
THEY OUGHT TO KNOW EEST ; AND THAT IT IS ONLY 
A FEW FANATICS, AND * WEAK-MINDED MEN AND 
WOMEN,' WHO ARE IN FAVOUR OF DISCUSSING IT." 

Be it so, if you please. It was recorded on a certain 
occasion, as a kind of check upon undue confidence in 
man, " that great men are not always wise ; and that 
neither do the aged always understand judgement." 
Job xxxii. 9. We also read upon the pages of divine 
truth, (Isaiah lx. 22,) these words, which should also 
tend to check our vain presumption in making flesh our 
arm : " A little one shall chase a thousand, and a small 
one a strong nation; I the Lord will hasten it in his 
time." And we read also : " but many that are first 
shall be last, and the last shall be first." And again : 
" Jesus saith unto them ; did ye never read in the 
Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the 
same is become the head of the corner 1 This is the 
Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." 

The Supreme Ruler of the universe unquestionably 
overrules the affairs both of Church and of State in this 
world, and will yet bring order out of seeming confusion, 
and strength out of apparent weakness ; but whether 
in mercy or in judgement to this guilty nation, it is 



348 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

not for mortal man to say. And has he not also said, 
that he would take " the weak things of the world to 
confound the mighty V f Did he not most emphatically 
do this for our fathers, when he " caused one to chase 
a thousand, and two to put ten thousand to flight?" 

I suppose, in consequence of the wonders that he 
wrought in accomplishing our independence through 
our leader, that the God of Washington has been as 
much more honoured by the nations of the earth as was 
the God of Daniel ! ! No doubt, too, that the name 
of Israel's God was more venerated in the eyes of all 
the Philistines, when he took up little David and killed 
the great Goliath, than though he had killed him with a 
stronger man than he. I know very well that " worldly 
wise men," in their own vainglorious conceits, impious- 
ly sneer at all this, even such men as call slavery the 
" best basis of freedom ;" but they not only show their 
impiety in so doing, but their ignorance, too, of past 
events, both sacred and profane. Probably God knows 
better how to glorify his own name than great statesmen 
or great divines do, however wise and prophetic some 
may even claim to be! ! 

Politicians themselves, moreover, independent of the 
admission of the interposition of divine power, have still 
ever been compelled to admit that the honesty and 
virtue requisite to effect any great and valuable reform 
in all ages have been found alone (with here and there 
a splendid exception,) in the common walks of life. 
Here are found the men as a general principle who 
constitute the main hope against aristocracy, monarchy, 
and despotism in the world ; and against the doctrine 
that " slavery is the best basis of freedom ;" and if they 



ILLUSTRATED. 349 

fail to be at their posts with their lamps trimmed and 
burning and oil in their lamps ; or in other language, if 
applied politically, if they fail to be intelligent, virtuous, 
and vigilant, we must of course forever despair of main- 
taining a free government by the people, and tyrants 
will subvert our liberties. Whenever this has not been 
the case in any country, first, anarchy and misrule, and 
ultimately despotism has ensued, as one of the most 
natural results in the usual train of human events. The 
whole is seen at one entire view " in means adapted to 
an end." And who that has common observation must 
not but see the baneful influence of the rich and power- 
ful as a general thing (though some noble and brilliant 
exceptions are most cheerfully admitted ;) who seem to 
be saying to themselves — "My soul, thou hast much 
goods laid up for thyself for many years, take thine ease, 
eat, drink, and be merry." It is this very spirit, origi- 
nated in the pride of colour, learning, rank, and wealth, 
which is constantly strengthening the iron bands of 
slavery in the world, entirely regardless of colour ; for 
who cannot see that one possessed of the presumptuous 
spirit to suppose that he is rich, and increased in goods 
and power, and hath need of nothing, would not be very 
likely to think much, feel much, or do much about the 
emancipation of "niggers?" This characteristic is not 
only abundantly portrayed in the Scriptures, but one 
which we see fully exemplified from every day's obser- 
vation. Like circumstances very naturally produce 
like sympathies, said a fugitive from American op- 
pression while on his way to Canada for freedom ; I 
dare not trust myself even with coloured people, if they 
have not themselves been slaves. Hence we see that 

30 



350 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

not many "mighty, and not many noble" will take the 
lead in unpopular causes. 

As an encouraging and redeeming principle in the 
world, it is true however, that patriotism, philanthropy, 
and religion, do, at times, induce individuals nobly to 
rise above all these lower and more sordid principles of 
action. While the north is congratulating itself with 
northern wealth and northen independence and feeling, 
that its mountain stands strong, and is tauntingly saying 
to the so much despised abolitionists — " Why trouble 
ye yourselves about southern l niggers,' ye fanatics, ye 
agitators, and ye incendiaries?" and is deeply absorbed 
in the contemplation of schemes how to get rich, and 
still richer, in goods " that perish with their using ;" an 
Omnipotent arm may bring down our high towers in a 
way that we think not ! I We should certainly think that 
the unlooked-for and unprecedented shock just felt in 
the pecuniary and commercial world, would teach us 
all, " that while we stand, to take heed lest we fall." 

While we have been blessed as a nation in religious 
toleration beyond any other people on earth ; and while 
the wilderness through unnumbered divine, as well as 
temporal blessings, has been made to " bud and to blos- 
som as the rose," still if the Church in this land, which 
has been so highly favoured with all the means of salva- 
tion from on high, shall be guilty of the most grievous 
sin against God, of withholding all these blessings from 
the millions of bondmen in her very midst, may he not 
in his righteous displeasure, at a time and in a way of 
which we little think, speedily deprive us too of that 
which we are so unrighteously withholding from others 
of our own countrymen? And for this proud and wicked 



ILLUSTRATED. 351 

contempt of the immortal workmanship of his own 
hands t in his holy anger may he not leave us to become 
a distracted, wretched, and desolate people? From the 
signs of the times, are there not some most fearful indi- 
cations already of such a terrible approaching judgement, 
unless as a nation we speedily put away from us the 
great and crying oppressions of the land? Is it not to 
be feared that we have been sowing the winds, and may 
be left to reap the whirlwind." And also, if the great 
body of the people, either through culpable ignorance, 
or criminal indolence, shall suffer themselves to be 
deluded from their true interests by the often un- 
meaning sounds of the flattering accents " democracy, 
republican and equal rights," from aspiring and " expe- 
dient " politicians of any name, without consistent prac- 
tical specimens of their sincerity ; like other republics 
gone before us, in the very midst of all these self con- 
gratulations, ere we are aware of it, may we too not 
become a nation of slaves ? 



SECTION XXIY. 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE THE SLAVEHOLDERS WILL DISSOLVE 
THE UNION IF WE DISCUSS IT." 

I might also add to this objection that the slave- 
holders at the south, with the aid of their servile abettors, 
and pro-slavery apologists at the north, will take away 
the constitutional right of petition, freedom of speech, and 
the liberhj of the press, from the people, if they attempt 
to discuss slavery. 

Did I say they will do it ? In this expression, however, 
I have but used the wrong tense : it should have been, 
they have done it. Instance the late outrageous, des- 
potic, unconstitutional gag-law resolutions introduced 
by Mr. Patton, a slaveholding member of Congress 
from Virginia, to prove the one, and all the disgraceful, 
unrebuked, pro-slavery riots in the land to put down 
free discussion to prove the other. 

The ever notable slaveholder's resolution alluded to, 
and which is so highly insulting to a people called free, 
will be found disgracing the congressional journals of 
American citizens, who are yet tantalized with the mere 
name free, as recorded December 2, 1837 : Ayes 122, 
Nayes 74. 

All the names of those who voted on this memorable 
occasion, both of the friends and of the enemies of the 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 353 

liberties of the people, should be held up before the 
nation and the world ; on the one hand for grateful 
remembrance ; and on the other, for righteous indigna- 
tion, contempt, and scorn. 

But I have only space here to record the obnoxious 
resolution itself which is as follows : — 

" Resolved, That all memorials, petitions, and papers, 
touching the abolition of slavery, or the buying, selling, 
or transfer of slaves in any state, territory, or district of 
the United States, shall be laid on the table, ivithout 
reading, or reference, or pi'inting, and that no further 
action whatever shall be had thereon. 1 '' 

If there be a freeman in this Union, (and in this case 
more especially a northern one,) who has the '76 kind 
of spirit of freedom in him, I must say, that for the time 
being, at least, he must be devoid of patriotic sensibility 
if he does not most keenly feel his own flesh shrinking 
and Quivering under the task-master's cruel and gory 
lash upon his scarred back, and feel his own limbs aching 
with his driver's clanking and galling chains, in the 
very spirit as well as the letter of this unheard-of tyran- 
nical resolution. I feel compelled to say, that if there 
be one who has not something of this feeling, that I can- 
not avoid the painful thought, that he must himself at 
least be in a rapid process of insensible preparation for 
slaveholding vassalage. 

We are very prone to speak of the aristocracy, the 
tyranny, and the despotism of other nations ; but where 
is there a power on earth, save that which is absolutely 
despotism itself that has ever dared to take such a 
stride over the liberties of the people ? How greatly 
do our northern delegation in Congress themselves need 

30* 



354 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

to be emancipated by the people, that they may enjoy 
perfect freedom of debate, not the freedom of the body 
merely, but the liberty of the soul. 

"When the people of Great Britain, (against whom 
some of our people often lavish their censures unspar- 
ingly) petitioned their parliament for years on the same 
subject, that parliament never thought of a denial to the 
people of their own sacred right of 'petition, and slavery 
throughout the whole British dominions has been in con- 
sequence most happily, honourably, and peacefully abol- 
ished. This is the very thing that American despots and 
slaveholding politicians are afraid of. 

But as to the objection to the discussion of slavery, 
because the slaveholders will dissolve the Union, in- 
stead of its being " prudence" thus to unman ourselves 
by surrendering all our constitutional fundamental rights 
to slaveholders upon such a plea, it would be like fear- 
ing to ask a man for a just debt, lest perchance he Should 
be offended and run his country, or commit suicide. 

The south, after all her threats and abuse of the north, 
unless indeed she shall become absolutely insane, and 
fully prepared to plunge herself into the very mouth of 
her own " volcano" never will seriously attempt to run 
away from the Union any farther than she can carry the 
government of the United States, with all its advantages, 
with her. In this sense, the south have for years been 
running away from, or rather running away with, the 
Union. 

There would probably be some northern sychophants 
to southern dictation that would hurra for the Union ! 
and call it all patriotism, if they actually saw the Union on 
wheels rolling towards JWexico, if already on the way, as 



ILLUSTRATED, 355 

far as Texas. It is true, that by the unconstitutional 
and overbearing course pursued by slaveholding politi- 
cians towards the north, growing out of the institution 
and the very despotic spirit of slavery, if much longer 
persisted in, may become unendurable on the part of the 
north, and in this sense the south might indeed be said 
to compel the north to dissolve the Union in order to en- 
joy that constitutional freedom which their fathers pur- 
chased for them, and which no freeman without its 
enjoyment considers life a blessing. 

But I still entertain the consoling hope that the body 
of the people, both north and south, will yet firmly settle 
down upon our great fundamental and constitutional 
principles of rational civil liberty. 

In no other way than carrying the Union with her, 
will the south ever dissolve the Union on account of 
her slavery, even though it be investigated to the very 
depths of all its abominations. 

All that is wanting to abolish slavery and save the 
Union, is for the entire free states to stand firm to the 
Constitution, in nobly sustaining freedom of speech, 
liberty of the press, and the right of petition. If there 
be any danger in this case, here it lies ; for short of 
this, our own liberties and the liberties of the nation 
are gone ! ! 

Dear as slavery is to the south, and as long as she 
has worshipped this idol, she would sooner, far sooner 
renounce it, than she would seriously hazard the maniac 
and desperate attempt to run aivay from the Union any 
farther, as remarked, than she can carry the Union along 
with her. There may be some reckless, unprincipled, 
and ambitious politicians at the south, who, could they 



356 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

imagine themselves able to stand under the heavy load, 
might attempt to purloin the whole Union, slavery and all, 
and as before said, not stop with it short of Texas or 
Mexico. 

But among the great body of the people at the 
south, there are most unquestionably thousands who 
are both enemies to slavery and friends to the Un- 
ion, who are themselves under slaveholding political 
oppression almost equal to slavery itself. What adds 
greatly to the present wickedness and horror of the in- 
stitution of American slavery, is, that unprincipled and 
ambitious politicians, to a greater or a less extent in 
the whole nation, either directly or indirectly, stop at 
nothing to make it a vast engine of corrupt political pow- 
er. It requires but little discernment to see this, to one 
who will just observe the moving of the waters. Political 
power, corrupt as it is, does sometimes accomplish won- 
ders. " The wicked, for a time, do often flourish and 
spread themselves like the green bay tree." 

Even to carry the whole Union to Texas and to 
Mexico, the southern monster " slavery " has strength 
to accomplish, if he can but succeed in destroying the 
counter -draught by lulling our northern samsons to 
sleep, and by bribery, employ some evil Delilahs to 
shear off their locks. The " hoax " about the south 
dissolving the Union in the sense of barely breaking 
off her allegiance to the federal government, has often 
reminded me of the turbulent and disobedient son, who 
would frequently threaten his good father that he would 
hang himself if he would not grant him certain unrea- 
sonable favours : till at length the father prepared a rope 
and presented it to his very dutiful son, at the same 



ILLUSTRATED. 357 

time earnestly pointing out to him a convenient place 
where he might put his impious threat into execution. 

This hopeful youth becoming satisfied that he could 
not bring his father to his unreasonable terms in this way, 
remained quiet awhile ; but at length changed his threat 
to that of running away, never to return to his father's 
house. The long abused father, who by this time had 
learned wisdom from experience, instantly turned his 
rebellious and unnatural son out of his house, with the 
stern injunction never to return, but with unfeigned re- 
pentance for his former conduct, and a full determination 
to obey his proper and rightful authority. The sturdy 
lad then finding himself indeed obliged to go, reluctantly 
left his slighted father's house, but cherishing the secret 
and last hope upon which his obstinacy hung, that his 
affectionate father would soon be after him to importune 
him to return. 

But being disappointed in this also, and remaining 
away until he was reduced to want, beggary, and ex- 
treme wretchedness, " came to himself," and like the 
prodigal, returned to his father, " weeping bitterly, and 
humbly confessed the wrongs he had done him." 

Says one who intimately understands the history of 
our government, " the southern threat of dissolving the 
Union is co-existent with the Union itself. Once they 
demanded a tariff, and threatened to rend the Union if 
we did not yield. We bowed the head in submission. 
Again, they said, let Missouri enter the Union, or it is 
dissolved. We bowed again. Repeal the protective 
tariff, or we will withdraw. Prostrate, we again kissed 
the dust. Finally, this is but the sixth time that the 
threat has been uttered." 



358 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

The danger of the Union being dissolved, (if there be 
danger from any quarter,) lies altogether on the " other 
side of the house." Should slavery be continued and ex- 
tended, it would doubtless ultimately dissolve the Union ; 
but if abolished, would " most gloriously " preserve it : 
and then, instead of slaveholders " blowing the Union 
into atoms," our posterity might become a great and an 
honourable nation, with its four or five hundred millions 
of people, all feemen indeed! 

But let us ever bear in mind that our constitutional 
liberties, freedom of speech, and the right of petition, 
must be firmly maintained, or these millions of our pos- 
terity, would be but so many millions of degraded vas- 
sals to some cruel and bloody despot ! It should be 
remembered, that without freedom of speech, all else is 
slavery. Let the vast country of Texas be annexed to 
the Union, and carved up into some eight or ten slave 
States for southern slaveholding political power ; and let 
slavery in all the present twelve slave States be still ra- 
pidly increasing ; and from the already vastly unequal 
scale of political representation between the slavehold- 
ing and the free states, the southern monster would 
soon be found dragging northern liberties to his iron car 
with giant strength. 

Indeed, we already feel his power, or rather see his 
teeth, and hear him growl and roar in his den, when he 
peremptorily demands that our mouths shall be gagged, 
our presses muzzled, our citizens scourged, and bids up 
high and tempting bounties for the ears and the heads of 
our northern fellow-citizens, who do not at once surren- 
der up their dearest and their most clear constitutional 
rights upon the despotic and bloody altar of slavery. 



ILLUSTRATED. 359 

Much as the north loves the Union upon constitutional 
and honourable principles, consistent with rational liber- 
ty ; if either must be surrendered, is it not greatly to be 
hoped she will prefer to retain her constitutional free- 
dom ? 

Moreover, this southern monster has already banished 
from his dark dominions all northern citizens of the 
Union, so far as regards the constitutional exercise of 
the right of speech, so sacredly and so clearly guarantied 
to every citizen of the United States. 

American freemen cannot now travel in safety through 
their otvn nation, unless they will bow down and worship 
slavery. And what to me is most alarming in all this, is, 
that this voice from the south, u of thunder tones," does 
not awake the north to her own danger ! ! ! 

Does she require a voice loud enough to awake her, 
which awakes her only to her own ruin? I am well 
aware that we hear from some interested northern politi- 
cians, (but not from southern ones,) that we should, on 
no occasion whatever, be heard to lisp a syllable about 
north and south. But from this opinion I wholly dis- 
sent. Let the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth, be told. 

I was quite recently forcibly reminded of the import- 
ance of" eternal vigilance, 1 '' (in a people who would long 
be free,) in checking the incipient steps of despotism 
among them, while listening to a speech of the Hon. 
Ashley Samson, of the city of Rochester, on the freedom 
of speech and the press. I take the liberty to quote a very 
few remarks of that gentleman, in his own language, on 
that occasion, as being much to my purpose in this 
place. 



360 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

" Encroachments upon our liberties," said he, " are 
often gradual and insidious. The time to arrest their 
progress is in the commencement. 

" Oppression is often more dangerous in its princi- 
ples than in its effects. At the commencement of our 
revolution, the amount of actual oppression was compa- 
ratively small. There was, to be sure, a two-penny 
tax on tea, and other similar measures. Had this been 
all, it might have been endured. 

" But our fathers saw in these arbitrary acts the germ 
of still more high-handed oppression. They saw the 
gradual approach of despotism." 

Here the speaker most happily quoted the eloquent 
language of Burke, " that they (our fathers) scented 
the approach of tyranny on every tainted breeze." 

This gentleman is not yet, I believe, a professed 
abolitionist! ! But how can men of this class of mind 
lono- be otherwise? Indeed, I trust they will not be, 
after their attention shall long have been directed to the 
whole subject. 

The reader will doubtless see, that these enlightened 
and patriotic views are stiictly and forcibly applicable 
to our case as a people at the present time ; for if the 
monster, slavery, while yet in his infancy, has power to 
nullify one of the dearest and most valuable articles of 
the American constitution, and, by Lynch law, disfran- 
chise northern citizens of this Union, what could he not 
do, if suffered to live until he attain his full mammoth 
growth ? Would he then have but to shake his ter- 
rible locks, and the now called free states be compelled 
to revolt, or to bow down and tremble for very fear? 
Would not then the long delightful note, " Union," 



ILLUSTRATED. 361 

cease to charm us, should we cease to associate liber- 
ty with it ? 

Aside from any corrupt designs of unprincipled and 
ambitious politicians, what possible object could the 
south, as a people, have, to even wish the Union dis- 
solved on account of their slavery 1 If they were now, 
with Texas and all their slavery, a nation by them- 
selves, and an enclosure thrown about them as high 
and as broad as the Chinese wall, the same powerful 
moral influence in the whole civilized world would still 
exist against the wickedness and the abominations of 
slavery, and would find its way among them, to their 
44 eternal annoyance," upon every wholesome breeze 
from the four quarters of the globe. 

And furthermore, what additional political security 
for their 44 peculiar institution" would they have, by 
being an independent slaveholding nation? Were it 
even so, this moment, the slaves would doubtless re- 
joice at it ; for then, in escaping from bondage instead 
of skulking and dodging all the way to Canada, their 
shackles would forever fall off the moment they crossed 
Mason and Dixon's line. The Potomac and the Ohio 
rivers would very soon be as full of the oppressed sons 
of Africa floating to a land of freedom, as they were 
said to be some years ago with black squirrels at a time 
of their general emigration. At such an event the poor 
slaves would, moreover, rejoice ; because now, under 
their iron reign of oppression and terror, they are often 
told, (and as things now are, these slaveholders claim 
a political right so to inform them,) that in case they 
ever strike for their/reedom, the " whole United States 
would at once fall upon them, and cut them off from the 

31 



362 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

face of the earth." But if the slaveholder could depend 
on no foreign aid, the slave would soon well under- 
stand, that it would be master against slave, single- 
handed, or perhaps many of the oppressed against one 
oppressor Hi 

In contemplating the relation of this nation to its 
slavery, I cannot avoid regarding it, in one point of 
view, as harbouring within its borders an immense army 
of two millions and a half composed at present of its 
mortal enemy, with which the nation must soon honour- 
ably capitulate, or be destroyed by it. But honourable 
treaties make friends !! I do not mean that the slaves 
now have the physical power to destroy the nation single- 
handed. But should a great and a general insurrection 
break out, the variously contending and warring ele- 
ments, as a just judgement from on high, might easily 
effect the entire destruction of the whole nation!!! 



SECTION XXV. 



M I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE, ALTHOUGH I HOLD TO FREE DISCUSSION, AND 
THINK THE SUBJECT MIGHT BE DISCUSSED IN A WAY 
TO DO GOOD, BUT THESE * MODERN ' ABOLITIONISTS 
ARE SO DENUNCIATORY AND ABUSIVE, AND MANIFEST 
SUCH AN UNCHRISTIAN SPIRIT, I THINK THE SUBJECT 
OF SLAVERY BETTER NOT BE AGITATED AT ALL, FOR 
IT ONLY EXCITES MOBS." 

This is the very man of all others, who should himself 
at once, be crowned " mob-master general." It is this 
very class of plausible, " smooth-faced" men, who are 
of all others, the most dangerous. 

There is nothing to be feared, but every thing to be 
hoped, in a free government, from frank, brave, open- 
hearted men, who promptly speak out their honest sen- 
timents on all important subjects, as they should do. 
We always know just where to find such men, and we 
always have the benefit of their sentiments, for what 
they are worth. 

If the people mean long to be free, they must not 
only think freely, but they must also speak freely and 
independently ; and the man who will not do this him- 
self, but waits for some " great head man " to speak for 
him, and the man also, instead of crying, mob ! mob ! 



364 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

who will not firmly stand by and protect others, in the 
exercise of this right, (if his manner is not so pleasant 
as he could wish,) is the very man who is pursuing the 
most effectual course to subvert his own, and his coun- 
try's liberties ! ! 

No matter what the subject before the public, we 
must bravely meet it, without flinching, if we would long 
be free ourselves, and have our country free. 

This objector, manifests on the very face of his ob- 
jection, a gross absurdity. He first finds great fault 
with the manner in which others discuss the subject of 
slavery ; then says it might be discussed in a way to do 
good, but will not discuss it himself. He is constitu- 
tionally privileged like every other freeman, to enjoy his 
own peculiar manner, being accountable for any abuse 
of this high privilege, not to an unreasonable, infuriated 
mob, but to the wholesome, safe, and constitutional laws 
of his country. 

The long-sighted, and wise framers of our most ex- 
cellent constitution, understanding mankind well, and 
looking down the vista of time, and beholding many 
millions of American freemen, with as great a variety 
of dispositions, temperaments, habits, and circumstan- 
ces, as there were individuals, and all differing in feel- 
ing at different times, from themselves, as much as from 
one another, and having an endless diversity of conflict- 
ing interests, saw no way in which freedom could pos- 
sibly be secured to each and to all, but to secure to 
each and to all, or rather to confirm, the Heaven-born 
inalienable right of pursuing happiness ; or discussing 
subjects in his, or their own way, being answerable for 
the abuse of this right to wise constitutional laws only. 



ILLUSTRATED. 365 

These sage men undoubtedly had in their eye, all, nay ! 
much more than all these considerations. 

They doubtless supposed, that every man possessed 
as much of a guarantied constitutional right to say to 
any man, or to any set of men, that he or they had been 
guilty of telling a falsehood, as that they had " been 
guilty" of telling the truth. If the charge was slander- 
ous, the accused of course had the remedy, by the good 
laws of his country in such cases provided, with all the 
civil advantages of a court of justice. 

Every man therefore, is of course, constitutionally, 
just as much entitled to his own " peculiar manner " of 
" thinking and speaking," under these perfectly safe 
constitutional provisions for all parties, as he is to wear 
his own peculiar hat, or his own peculiar coat, of which 
he became lawfully possessed. 

And the man who attempts to deprive him of his con- 
stitutional rights of freedom of thought and of speech, 
except when he makes himself liable to some wise con- 
stitutional law, and then to do it in a lawful manner, is 
just as much a robber, nay, a robber of far more sa- 
cred property, than though he should take his hat, his 
coat, or his purse, without liberty. 

In a late speech of Wendell Phillips, Esq. to a large 
audience in Faneuil Hall in Boston, on the occasion of 
the assassination of Lovejoy, for his exercising his con- 
stitutional freedom of speech, he said, "James Otis 
once thundered in this Hall, when the King of England 
but touched his pocket; but, continued this gentleman, 
what mortal pen could have written down his burning 
eloquence, had England offered to put a gag upon his 
lips ! !" 

31* 



366 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

This is the very doctrine for any people, who mean 
long to be free. 

When any of their rights are disputed, this is the very 
time, most to contend for them, with undaunted courage, 

and MANLY FIRMNESS. 

And even if a man, or a body of men, were slandered 
by means of this wise and indispensable constitutional 
toleration, so necessary to establish and maintain ration- 
al freedom, it were far better, and more honourable to 
ourselves and to our country, to expose the slanderer to 
public gaze and rebuke, by free discussion and counter 
testimony, than violently to destroy his property, " break 
his head," or take his life ! ! If the slandered sustain 
pecuniary damages by the slanderer, he of course, has 
his remedy at the law, if he be disposed to avail himself 
of it. Mobocrats are always both physical and moral 
coivards ! ! ! 

But if men alleging themselves to be slandered, re- 
sort to a violent, or to a slanderous course in return, 
they are indeed but too fully proving to all the world, 
that their feet are upon a sandy foundation, that their 
cause is untenable. 

I was indeed quite forcibly struck with the truth of 
this general principle, which I think may very justly be 
considered of almost universal application, in just now 
casting my eye upon an article in a public journal, in 
relation to James Watson Webb, whom report says 
recently procured the murder of Cilley by the hand of 
Graves, in the late duel at Washington, for words spo- 
ken in debate by Cilley, on the floor of Congress, in 
relation to the conduct of Webb. 

The article alluded to is as follows : — 

" The general effect is, instead of relieving Webb from 



ILLUSTRATED- 367 

the charge as to the United States' Bank, to revive the 
story in every man's mouth ; and men are heard in all 
parts of the town to express their full belief in the charge, 
who hitherto were silent, or doubted. People are rush- 
ing to the Courier office, and expressing their abhorrence 
of his conduct by discontinuing their subscriptions. It 
is said and believed, that he has already lost some 500 
subscribers. Friends and foes condemn him, and abhor 
his conduct. A public meeting has been called ; and 
so great and strong was the excitement, that I am afraid 
he is not safe in the city." 

I cannot fully vouch for the truth of all these state- 
ments ; but only say, that should they prove in all respects 
correct, they do but illustrate the principle, that it is ever 
a bad cause which will not admit of being carefully ex- 
amined and " reasoned upon." 

If this doctrine be correct, what are we obliged to 
say then to slaveholders, who will not manfully meet us 
half way, and discuss the merits of slavery like men, 
instead of first menacing the north with secession, and 
next appealing to its aristocracy to help them in their 
ambitious designs upon the north? If they will do 
so, and will prove slavery to be right, I, for one, will 
most cheerfully yield the controversy, and be ready to 
make all reparation for injury in my power; but if they 
fail to do this, and I succeed in proving slavery to be 
wrong, and greatly oppressing my brother, then shall I 
claim a heavy verdict against the slaveholder, and his 
apologists and abettors, from a jury of all Heaven and 
earth. 

No violence, by the sordid policy of individuals, or of 
governments, can very long be safely and successfully 



368 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

practised to parry off the influence of any dreaded re- 
sult of investigation. 

Our government once tried the experiment of attempt- 
ing to put down freedom of opinion in the enactment of 
the ever memorable alien and sedition laws. 

These laws, which in themselves were far less danger- 
ous to the liberties of the people, than are the Congres- 
sional gag-law resolutions of 1838, were most promptly 
" expunged " by the people through the elevation of Mr. 
Jefferson to the highest office in their gift upon the 
single sentiment, (of which Mr. Jefferson was the author, 
and the unflinching advocate while he lived,) that " error 
of opinion may be safely tolerated, while reason is left 
free to combat it." So it will continue to be with a 
people so long as they are destined to be free. 

These odious alien and sedition laws, commonly 
known by the name of the " gag laws," were long re- 
membered by the people with a kind of patriotic hor- 
ror ! ! ! But by the violence which has been practised 
of late in suppressing freedom of opinion, and in many 
instances passively tolerated, I have sometimes thought 
it was almost to be feared that that virtuous indignation 
which once existed against encroachments upon any of 
our constitutional and fundamental rights, is measurably 
obliterated from the public mind, and that in the days of 
our prosperity we had nearly forgotten what were the 
landmarks of our fathers. 

And here I cannot forbear to say again, that if we de- 
sire long to be free, the great fundamental principles of 
all truly free governments, the conscientious right of 
opinion, of speech, and of petition, must forever take the 
lead, and hold a distinguished prominence in the public 



ILLUSTRATED. 369 

mind above all other considerations of which we can 
possibly conceive in relation to human governments, 
and all the rights of man. 

Even a " Union " whose territory might embrace the 
globe, should not for a moment be suffered to pervert 
our higher principles, or to blind our eyes so far, that we 
would sacrifice these only fundamental principles of 
human freedom. 

No considerations whatever should make us falter for 
a moment in the firm support of these original and broad 
principles of all civil liberty among men. 

Even the love of union, (which ought indeed in every 
part of the land to be but another name for liberty, 
should not however be suffered to deceive us, and lead 
us astray from the only principles by which a free go- 
vernment can possibly be sustained. 

That admirable sentiment so beautifully expressed, 
" liberty and union, one and inseparable, now and for- 
ever," is most unquestionably correct in the very sense 
in which it ever ought to be understood ; that is, that so 
long as a people are harmonious, and cordially united in 
sentiment, whether in political or religious faith, there 
will be true liberty among that people. But if this sen- 
timent is to be grossly and dangerously perverted, as 
some in our country but too evidently would have it ; 
and to be made to mean a union of territory merely, en- 
tirely regardless of all moral or political principles of 
action, or as the mere theatre of ambitious and unprin- 
cipled demagogues, whether slaveholding, political, ec- 
clesiastical, or of xohatever name ; then for one, I shall 
most certainly forever protest against any such con- 
struction ; for if such a construction be a correct one, 



370 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

then most assuredly our disunion from Great Britain 
would at once have reduced us to slavery and vassalage, 
instead of elevating us to liberty and independence. If 
we mean to be freemen indeed, let us never be induced 
by the flattery of sychophants, or by the frowns of tyrants 
to desert the first great landmarks of all rational liberty, 
the unabridged freedom of speech and right of petition. 

IN either must we as a " sovereign people" degrade 
ourselves by cringing and begging for these RIGHTS 
when robbed of them by our servants, (despotically called 
rulers,) but take them in our own " sovereign capacity " 
as our own lawful property, for nothing short of this 
would be manifesting to the world the true dignity of a 
free people. 

I mean nothing more by this than that we should ever 
nobly and manfully act up to the very spirit and privi- 
leges of our laws, and our once idolized constitution. 



SECTION XXVI. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THESE PEOPLE 
WHO TALK SO MUCH ABOUT ABSTRACT PRINCI- 
PLES OF RIGHT AND WRONG, FOR I BELIEVE SUCH 
PRINCIPLES ARE ALL ' MOONSHINE.' " 

Here we see the very " cloven foot" itself exposed to 
horrid view. So thought revolutionary Fiance, when in 
her dreadful infatuation, she publicly discarded and 
" burned with fire " the only revelation from Heaven to 
men, as " a guide to their jeet, and a lamp to their 
path," when she then knelt down and worshipped the 
God of" expediency," and all were let loose; and every 
man's hand was found against bis fellow ; and blood 
flowed at every pore through the streets of Paris. 

The truth is, that a great and a high-minded states- 
man, who acts for his whole country, and nothing but his 
country (save his God,) and who plants his feet, as did 
our noble ancestors, upon the immutable, eternal, and 
inalienable rights of man, differs as widely from a mere 
quibbling, vacillating, " expediency," party politician, as 
are the poles apart. The one is the true beacon light 
that guides the weather-beaten mariner safe into port ; 
the other, that false, deceptive light, that " lures but to 
deceive," and ultimately leads the anxious mariner to 
shipwreck and ruin. The one, is like the very sun in 



372 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

the Heavens, which ever shines by its own native light ; 
and the other, like that opaque body, which but dimly 
shines, and that, too, only by the reflection of its bor- 
rowed light, while all is darkness within. The one, in 
short, is fitted to illuminate, and to save a nation ; and 
the other, but to darken, bewilder, and destroy it. 



SECTION XXVII. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE THE NORTH ARE ALREADY OPPOSED TO 
SLAVERY, AND THAT IS ENOUGH." 

What say the slaveholding politicians of the south on 
this point? and how responds the pro-slavery dema- 
gogues of the north to it? 

Mr. Calhoun, a slaveholder, has just proclaimed in 
the Senate of the United States, as a reason why anti- 
slavery petitions from northern citizens to Congress 
should be spurned, and contemptuously trampled under 
the feet of the public servants of the " sovereign peo- 
ple," that the north were not opposed to slavery, except 
" women and children." 

There are, it is true, many noble hearted and intelli- 
gent females at the north, and some, I trust, at the south, 
who do indeed loathe and abhor slavery in all its forms, 
as the abomination of all abominations ; as a system 
which rudely and most cruelly seizes and tears their 
suffering and ill-fated sisters from their bosom compa- 
nions, — from their children, and all that they hold dear 
on earth, — and hurries them off into a returnless and 
cruel bondage. There are also many children at the 
north 'who are yet uncontaminated by the corrupting 
and " heart-hardening " process of the ever-blighting, 

32 



374 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

slaveholding, and party " expediency " spirit, whose 
14 young and simple" hearts do indeed burn with the 
honest indignation of nature, at the sad story of the dis- 
tressing wrongs practised upon thousands of their inno- 
cent fellow-children in bondage, who are constantly 
" being torn " by the iron grasp of the slaveholder from 
the affectionate embrace of their fond parents. When 
they hear these heartrending tales of sorrow and of wo, 
they seem hardly to believe that such things can be done 
by " human" beings, and listen to the recital of painful 
facts with the like terror as that which is excited in their 
minds by accounts of the ravages of wild beasts upon 
their human prey. 

But, would it were the fact, that not only a few phi- 
lanthropic female hearts at the north were lifted up to 
Heaven in supplication to the God of the oppressed, in 
behalf both of the oppressor and the oppressed, but that 
every female heart in the nation was thus affected, and 
thus directed. 

Were this even so, it would not be long before such 
slaveholding, nullifying demagogues as J. C. Calhoun, 
at the south, who hold all religion to be bigotry, and all 
slavery to be freedom ; together with all their pro-slavery 
abettors of a kindred spirit at the north, would be made 
to quail before its powerful and peaceful influence ; and 
the " still small voice " would be found more efficient 
than all the whirlwind of passion; of men who speak 
thus contemptuously of female influence ; and such 
political traducers of female worth, would soon hide 
their " diminished heads," and the millions of our in- 
nocent enslaved countrymen would speedily leap for 



ILLUSTRATED. 375 

joy, and shout the loud song of universal jubilee ; and 
the man then who should be found kidnapping and 
selling his fellow-man, would be banished from human 
society. 

And then, too, indeed, could every true patriot rejoice, 
that his beloved country was redeemed from ihe long 
pending, threatening curse of slavery, which had hung 
over it like a ponderous avalanche, ready to fall upon it 
with crushing power. 

The Misses Grimkie, though natives of a slavehold- 
ing State, have already nobly led the way ; and while 
the "Priest and the Levite " have passed by on the other 
side, these unassuming females have been the true Sa- 
maritans, and have wielded a moral and an intellectual 
power on the subject of American slavery, truly astonish- 
ing ; and have done honour to human nature, to their 
sex, and their country. 

How can one, calling himself a man, stand back, and 
carp about female " delicacy ," while his own mouth, 
meanwhile, is kept padlocked against the cause of the 
suffering, oppressed, and the dumb, in his own coun- 
try 1 

But while the sentiments of many intelligent and phi- 
lanthropic females are well known on this great subject 
of humanitv, and for the noble and fearless expression 
of their sentiments, their country owe them the highest 
esteem and praise, I am also happy to be able to say, 
that there are many thousands of men, too, at the north 
of " sane minds," who have had the courage to break 
away from the thraldom of party expediency and eccle- 
siastical domination, and to speak out for all the 



376 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

rights of man, and for their country, as becomes Chris- 
tians, republicans, and independent freemen. 

Let the fourteen hundred societies in favour of 
freedom, with their two hundred thousand mem- 
bers, speak for themselves* 



SECTION XXVIII. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OP SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE THE SUBJECT IS SO ABSORBING THAT 
WHEN MEN BECOME ENGAGED IN IT, THEY SEEM 
TO FORGET EVERY THING ELSE, AND BECOME 
MEN OF "ONE IDEA;" AND THEY THEN BECOME 
SO MUCH WROUGHT UP, THAT THEIR LANGUAGE 
IS DENUNCIATORY." 

Now, as a general thing, I believe that abolitionists, as 
a class of citizens, are known to attend to their relative 
duties in society probably about the same as other men. 
I have no doubt, when our fathers became men of "one 
idea" in their memorable struggle for their liberty, for 
ours, (and I fain would hope, too, for our posterity,) that 
there were some few among them, had they dared to 
have spoken out, would have said, " Though I am with 
you in sentiment on this subject, I do believe Great 
Britain is oppressing us, and will continue to oppress 
us more and more, unless we immediately break her 
yoke ; still, I do not think it prudent for us to leave 
our families, and to spend all our time and our property 
in this struggle for liberty, for it would be acting alto- 
gether like men of ' one idea.* " 

AH opposers to any great reform in any age of the 
world have been pleased, in order to retard its progress i 
to stigmatize men in some such way, who have indeed 

32* 



378 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

been altogether absorbed in acquiring intelligence and 
energy equal to the work which their hands found to do 
for rolling on the reformation, which they deemed worthy 
for the time being to command all their powers. 

With regard to denunciatory language I have a word 
to say. It is unquestionably wrong, in any. case, to 
apply stronger epithets to any crime, or to any criminal, 
than truth will justify. If men, in all their discussions 
and proceedings, both moral and political, would state 
u the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," 
in just such language as conveyed the exact truth, and 
nothing more nor less, this, doubtless, would ever stand 
the strictest test as an infallible criterion. But the 
language of different men, on all subjects, will, of 
course, vary as their organizations, temperaments, feel- 
ings, and views shall vary. But one thing is certain, 
which all experience and observation teach us, that 
to men who feel little or nothing themselves on a given 
subject, the language of the impassioned eloquence of 
a Paul or a Stephen ; or of a Hancock, an Otis, or a 
Patrick Henry of modern times, would doubtless often 
seem harsh, denunciatory, and altogether offensive and 
uncalled for ; and such cool-hearted persons would be 
ready to cry out, " ultra ! fanatic !" or, as they did to 
Paul, '* much learning maketh thee mad ;" or, " you 
are turning the world upside down." 

It is true, as it regards the language of Patrick Henry, 
in the cause of the American revolution, though very 
strong and bold, and his eloquence masculine and burn- 
ing, it was not offensive to his auditors, because every 
pulse beat in unison with it, and every soul responded 
Amen'- to all the sentiments which he uttered. Here 



ILLUSTRATED. 379 

appears to be the great secret of language being pleas- 
ing or offensive. Doubtless, had the tyrants who were 
then forging the chains for our fathers listened to the 
language of many of the high-minded and full-souled 
orators of the revolution, while pouring forth their deep 
indignation against their tyranny and oppressions, they 
would have pronounced their language highly denuncia- 
tory and greatly abusive, even worthy of instant death, 
" without benefit of clergy." 

I think this must hold good on all subjects, among 
all men. I know of no safer, more honest, or more 
consistent principle on this subject, than first to see 
well to it that our sentiments are "just and true ;" and, 
when satisfied of this, that our language, if possible, 
exactly convey our sentiments. Just as far as our 
words are intentionally made to fall short of the true 
representatives of our honest sentiments, just so far 
does not the charge of " expediency," " flattery," or 
even Jying, justly stand against us, in the view of all 
earth and Heaven ? 



SECTION XXIX. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE FEMALES ARE ENGAGED IN IT." 

Why should they not be engaged in it? There are now 
in this far-famed Christian land — in this land which 
sends out its hundreds of missionaries to preach Christ 
to the heathen — more than a million of females in south- 
ern bondage, most of whom have never even had an 
offer of Christ and salvation, from the thousands of the 
ministers of Christ abroad, or at home, and in their very 
midst. And with regard to temporal privations and 
afflictions, they are not only liable any moment to be 
torn asunder by the hand of violence, from all the tender 
relations and endearments of life forever, and driven by 
the whip, from husband, from children, and from all that 
they hold dear on earth ; but wherever they may be, al- 
most from infancy to the grave, they are cruelly doomed 
to one unremitting, endless round of toil, in the sugar, 
cotton, and rice fields, from fourteen to sixteen hours a 
day, to finish their hard tasks, with but a scanty pittance 
of food to sustain their exhausted and often worn-out 
bodies, leaving their young infants alone, at one end of the 
long, dreary, scorched field, until they work through to 
the opposite end and return. Sometimes the negroes have 
compassion on these poor women, with their young in- 
fants to take care of, and neglect their own tasks, and 
help finish theirs, to save their wives and their daugh- 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 381 

ters from the cruel stripes ; and voluntarily receive the 
lashes on their own bare backs. Surely, if there be a 
cause on earth in which it becomes females to be en- 
gaged, is not this one 1 Females can help make a 
righteous public opinion by disseminating truth, and this, 
with the blessing of Heaven, will soon peacefully and 
happily for all concerned, accomplish the greatly desired 
work of the universal emancipation of all the millions of 
our innocent countrymen who are now in cruel bonds. 

Let not females, then, be discouraged in their labours 
of love in this cause of humanity ; for the greatest oak 
that was ever felled, the greatest temple or city ever 
built, the Erie, the Ohio, and the Pennsylvania canals, 
nay, much more, the improvements'of the whole world, 
were all accomplished by single and successive blows. 
And to show the inconsistency, not to say hypocricy of 
some men, there are those who will tax all their powers 
of eloquence to induce females to engage in active efforts 
to raise heathen women from their degraded state, who 
will, at the same time, even " impiously sneer u at the 
idea of females being members of an anti-slavery society* 
to extend help to their suffering sister near at hand. 
And while I can say, that I most cordially approve of 
doing the one, from the same principle of benevolence, I 
am compelled to say, that I equally disapprove of leav- 
ing the other undone. Our philanthropy and benevo- 
lence, to be consistent, should be universal. 

The same wicked and aristocratic selfishness, which 
makes nun in Christian lands, reduce both male and fe- 
male to a state of abject slavery, makes men in pagan 
lands, reduce females to universal servitude. As Chris- 
tians, philanthropists, or republicans, we are equally 



382 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

bound to oppose both. And what just claim can we 
have to these so much coveted names, if we do it not ? 
There are many men in our country, standing even in 
" holy places," who, while they give long, learned, pro- 
found, and laboured discourses, to prove who JVIelchisi- 
dec was, to establish some favourite creed, or to prose- 
lyte to some sect, affect not to see that there are any 
oppressions in this nation ; and straightway, like the 
" Priest and the Levitt, pass by on the other side." 

Most men in this country professedly, and all do at 
least tacitly, respect the influence of females ; feeling 
conscious that they possess intelligence, with minds less 
biassed by pecuniary interests, or by debasing party poli- 
tics, and less contaminated with considerations of " ex- 
pediency " which often prevent men from discerning, 
embracing, and acting upon principle. With these 
views of female characteristic, men cannot but pause t 
and reflect, when they see females espousing a cause. 
And in this way, through their pride or love of independ- 
ence, they often stand long rebuked before they will con- 
fess their wrong ; nevertheless, the fact has been estab- 
lished beyond controversy, time immemorial I believe, 
that the minds of men are neither invulnerable nor invin- 
cible, even by "the ladies" 

Without naming the endless toils and sufferings of the 
female in a state of slavery, the oft-repeated and untold 
scourgings, by her reckless and bruited driver, frequently 
under every circumstance of female destiny ; one would 
think, after reading the following advertisement alone, 
that no man would ever again be heard to speak slightly 
of females opposing slavery with their whole souU 



ILLUSTRATED. 383 

(From the Brunswick Georgia Advocate.) 

WANTED TO HIRE. 

The undersigned wish to hire One Thousand Negroes 
to work on the Brunswick canal, of whom, one third may 
be women. $16 per month will be paid for steady prime 
men, and $13 for able women. 

F. & A. PRATT. 
P. M. NIGHTINGALE. 
Brunswick, January 25, 1839. 

Have we, as a nation, any great cause to thank the 
colonizationist for all his efforts, (admitting they are 
well meant,) to get "prime" labouring men and "able" 
women out of the country, when they are urgently called 
for by thousands ? 

The abolitionist desires them to remain, and to have 
a "fair chance " for their lives, their persons, and their 
property. 



SECTION XXX. 

" I AM OPPOSED, SAYS HoNEST FRANK, TO HAVING 
SLAVERY DISCUSSED, BECAUSE SLAVERY IS RIGHT ; 
AND I AM AFRAID THAT THE DISCUSSION OF IT, 
THROUGH THE MERE SYMPATHIES OF THE PEOPLE, 
WOULD EVENTUALLY ABOLISH IT, WHICH I THINK 
WOULD BE WRONG." 

The " niggers" are nothing but a species of baboon, or 
"ourang outang." You know, says Honest Frank, 
there is a "gradation of being in the scale of existence." 
The slaveholders have some how or other managed to 
get the upper hand of those "creatures" and it is just 
as much their right to keep it, and to hold on to them 
as their property, as it would be, if a company of 
Indians should overcome, and take a lot of buffaloes in 
the ivilds of .Missouri, to kill them, sell their skins, and 
eat their jlesh ! 

Now, as horrible as Honest Frank's doctrine appears 
in theory, just divest the whole subject of all its phari- 
saical drapery, and slavery is all this in practice ; and 
its apologists, in endeavouring to excuse or to palliate 
slaveholding for a moment, are encouraging a principle 
which leads to similar treatment ofhuman and immortal 
beings. The selfish doctrine of " expediency " would 
always end in all this towards men of all colours, stat- 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 385 

ures, or conditions, if left entirely unchecked by tire im* 
mutable and eternal principle of right, " which teaches 
us to do to others as we wish others to do to us." Does 
it not become us all manfully to resist the first dawnings 
of this aggressive principle upon the equal rights of 
man 1 This doctrine of equal rights, or of doing to 
others as we would have others do unto us, is from 
aeove, and serves as a kind of" checkrein" upon the 
selfish, wicked, and " expedient " hearts of men, or as 
an anchor to hold mankind from utterly destroying and 
devouring one another. Some may be ready to pro- 
nounce this a reflection too severe upon human nature ; 
but I have only to refer such to the despotic and bloody 
annals of all past time by way of confirmation of its cor- 
rectness. Man, when left tohimself, independent of some 
wholesome influence, human or divine, has lon<r since 
proved himself unworthy of being entrusted with unequal 
power. The scripture phraseology employed, when speak- 
ing of this heavenly principle, which measurably holds in 
awe these conflicting and warring elements in the bound- 
less ambition of man, is, "that it is the salt of the earth." 
But when we hear politicians in the Senate of the Uni- 
ted States, in one breath, blessing our "free institu- 
tions," and at the very next, with Mr. Calhoun, congrat- 
ulating the south on the superiority of their "institu- 
tions " over the north, and with " shameless front," 
boldly explain their meaning to be, that there, (in south- 
ern slavery) " labour cannot compete with capital " — 
do not all their loud professions of love for freedom, 
sound, as one might well suppose the word " holiness" 
would, from the lips of demons? 

33 



SECTION XXXI. 



I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY ; FOR 
THOUGH SLAVERY IS A GREAT SIN, IN THE "AB- 
STRACT," IT IS A STILL GREATER ONE TO SAY SO, 
AND TO ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE IT." 



I could say much in reply to (his purely selfish and danger- 
ous expediency doctrine, but do not deem it in place to do 
it here. But I feel constrained at least to say, that I 
greatly fear that the alarming prevalence of the doctrine 
of " expediency," or in other language, " supreme self- 
ishness," or of committing known and acknowledged 
wrong, under some very plausible pretext that perchance 
a greater good may thereby be secured, is most rapid- 
ly, morally, and politically corrupting and cursing our 
nation. 

In all countries, and in all ages, when the expediency 
doctrine has most obtained, instead of its showing a 
pure, and an elevated standard of morals, or a high and 
a discriminating sense of right and wrong, among the 
people ; on the contrary, it has ever been known to 
have been ihe legitimate offspring of a low, grovelling 
principle of action, tending to moral and political de- 
generacy and ruin. And sometimes, for example, even 
that most debasing, ignoble, and wicked practice as 
the result, has prevailed among the people, of their 
kidnapping one another, and buying, selling themselves 
as mere articles of traffic, like beasts of burden. As 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 387 

it regards ourselves as a whole people, it is indeed 
painful to be compelled to make the reflection, that our 
national characteristic in this respect, is at present very 
far below what itshoulclbe; andthatprincipally on account 
of our slavery, is beginning to be too justly so regarded 
by neighbouring nations. Is not he who searches out, 
and fearlessly speaks the truth with reference to the 
best good of his country, and his fellow-men, far more 
their benefactor, however ungratefully the truth may by 
some be received, than the mere encomiast, who, to 
attain his own ends, is constantly, indiscriminately pro- 
nouncing high-sounding eulogiums upon his govern- 
ment and his countrymen, and often entirety regardless 
of truth ? Are not the " wounds of a friend, faithful, 
while the kisses of an enemy are deceitful ?" 

Whoever supposed the mere flatterer was acting the 
part of a judicious friend 1 Who can fail to see the 
corrupting and downward tendency in morals of the 
" expediency" principle among the political parties of 
the day, in the mere selection of their candidates for 
office alone, with reference to no other question but 
that often degrading one ; " who can, by any means 
whatever, secure the most votes ?" 

Volumes might be written upon the corrupting tend- 
ency of this kind of "expediency," and also of its dark, 
insidious, and highly dangerous influ nee, ultimately, to 
all our liberties. If this deceptive and arch foe to virtue 
and to freedom be not exposed in time by the sentinels 
upon the watch towers of our liberties, while yet in our 
midnight slumbers, like a " thief in the night," he will 
rob us of these liberties ; and we, too, like others gone 
before us, shall awake only by the clanking of our 



388 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

chains in slavery, to some artful, ambitious despot fotr 
our master. 

Our slavery forms the very "head and front" of this 
dangerous " expediency " in our country. As for a 
single example, among many, of this sordid and inte- 
rested character which might be named : Says a north- 
ern leading editor to his confidential friend, " I know- 
that these abolitionists are in the right, and on the only 
ground of '• genuine democracy ;' for we cannot take 
the very first lesson in discussing the great principles of 
civil liberty, as held out to the world in the declaration 
of American independence, without finding ourselves at 
once completely identified in sentiment with them ; but 
it will never do for me, with my ten thousand slave- 
holding subscribers, or for us as a political party, to say 
so. My only hope of sustaining the immense expense 
of my paper, and our only hope as a party also, is to 
cry them down as a dangerous and ' bloodthirsty set of 
incendiaries,' for all this takes well with the south." 

These same oppressive proceedings have been pain- 
fully too true of some religious bodies, as well as poli- 
tical parties. Will not our independent farmers and 
mechanics, nay, all classes of our fellow-citizens who 
are yet free and above this kind of dangerous slavery in- 
fluence to all our liberties, speak out in their sovereignty, 
in trumpet tones, and free their own press from this 
dreadful thraldom, into which the " dough-faced " and 
dangerous " expediency " of not daring to speak what 
it admits to be the truth has involved it? But if we will 
still listen to this w expediency" charm, it will ultimately 
most assuredly bewilder, intoxicate, and ruin us. Our 
only hope of freedom is to dare to be honest. If we 



ILLUSTRATED. 389 

cannot sustain our freedom in this way, we are indeed 
doomed to be slaves. 

But the world's history, sacred or profane, records no 
instance of an honest, and an upright people, who dealt 
justly, and loved mercy, being forsaken of God to then- 
own ruin. - 



33* 



SECTION XXXII. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO SLAVERY IN THE fc ABSTRACT/ 
AND BELIEVE IT TO BE THE GREAT AND CRY- 
ING SIN OF THIS NATION, BUT THINK IT ' INEX- 
PEDIENT f TO DISCUSS IT JUST NOW." 

I speak entirely independent of all men's party politics, 
or rather with like disapproval of all, regardless of par- 
ty, who may fall under this principle, when I say it re- 
quires no prophetic eye, to see that any man who thinks 
more of electing his favourite presidential candidate, 
than he does of the liberation of two and a half millions 
of his fellow-beings from a cruel bondage, will find it 
very convenient, time without end, at least to be " non- 
committal^ on the subject of slavery, not to say, an 
apologist or advocate for it. 

Every man, who thinks of nothing but his party poli- 
tics, will always have the ultimate success of himself, 
or his favourite candidates in view, and adopt as his 
prime maxim, the false sentiment, " that the " end ever 
justifies the means. 

And whether that candidate be Van Buren, Benton, 
Rives, Clay, Calhoun, Harrison, Webster, or any other 
man, with much hope of success, it will all be the same 
as it regards the subject of slavery, so long as it exists, 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 391 

and holds a political influence in the nation, so alarm- 
ing to the friends of liberty, and so vast and con- 
trolling. 

Indeed, I am expecting among the various candidates 
at the next presidential campaign, to see the great strife 
to be, who can go farthest in compromising northern 
liberties to southern slavery, and still spare enough of 
the north to accomplish the end. 

So long as any man in the free states in this Union 
shall think more of his own political preferment, or that 
of his favourites for office requiring the united suffrages 
of the whole Union, than he does of the abolishment of 
slavery in the United States and throughout the world, 
just so long he will probably find it necessary, and will 
also have his plausible but fallacious and dangerous 
reasons at hand for cringing with entire subserviency, 
and base sycophancy, to the despotic dictation of south- 
ern slavery interest ; and consequently go thus far, and 
no farther. " I am opposed to slavery in the l abstract,' 
and in favour of free discussion in the ' abstract,' but 
think it altogether ^inexpedient ' to i agitate' the subject 
just now, or to emancipate the slaves until they are 
1 prepared for freedom, and we know what to do with 
them: " 

This man, who would seem to have no heart for 
benevolence or humanity, but ever bowing down to the 
heartless idol of his own favourite party politics, or 
being more governed by sectarianism, to sustain eccle- 
siastical ranks unbroken, than by "pure and undejiled 
religion," will ever still exclaim, ** it is inexpedient" to 
agitate the subject of slavery " just yet." This pioba- 



392 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

bly will be so with this class of •* expediency " men, 
unless others preserve their liberties for them, until they 
and their children, in just retribution for their own "ex- 
pedient," selfish, and unjust conduct, shall themselves 
become slaves also. 

You ask a man, whose mind is thus moulded, when 
he thinks would be the time to discuss slavery ; and if 
he could be prevailed upon to give a definite answer at 
all, it would most probably be something like the one 
which Fox of England once gave the Jews, to whom 
he had a long time been indebted to a large amount. 
When called on from time to time for payment, he was 
always ready, most cheerfully to acknowledge the just- 
ness of their claim, but the time of their application for 
its discharge never happened to come exactly right. At 
length, the patience of the "poor Jews" being exhaust- 
ed, they addressed him as follows, viz. : " As you have 
always admitted the principle, but protested against the 
time, we will now give you your own time, only just fix 
on some final day for our repayment." 

" Ah, my dear Moses," replies this cunning Fox, 
" now this is indeed friendly ; I will take you at your 
word. I will fix a day; and as it is to be a filial day, 
what would you think of the day of judgement?" 

The reply was, " This will be too busy a day with 
us all." 

"Well, well, then," says Fox, "in order to accom- 
modate all parties, what would you think of the day 
after?" 

I have quoted this anecdote, though of solemn im- 
port, as being quite applicable, I think, to this indefinite 



ILLUSTRATED. 393 

" expediency " procrastination, to investigate a great 
national subject, which all are so ready to admit has 
such immense bearings upon the interests of all con- 
cerned. Is it the part of wisdom, or of patriotism, 
voluntarily to close our eyes to an approaching evil, 
until it fall upon us to our utter destruction ? 



SECTION XXXIII. 

" I AM AN ABOLITIONIST, AM OPPOSED TO SLAVERY, 
AND IN FAVOUR OF ITS IMMEDIATE ABOLISHMENT, 
BUT AM OPPOSED TO THE PRESENT LEADING ABO- 
LITIONISTS DISCUSSING IT, BECAUSE THEY SOME- 
TIMES INTERMINGLE IN THEIR DISCUSSIONS, SOME 
OF THEIR OWN 'PECULIAR SENTIMENTS ' ON RE- 
LIGIOUS SUBJECTS ; AND I BELIEVE THEIR DIS- 
CUSSIONS ARE IN DANGER OF INJURING, AND PER- 
HAPS OVERTHROWING, THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 
AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ; AND I BELIEVE I 
COULD DISCUSS IT ' FAR MORE ORTHODOX.' " 

There is a class, of rather disguised opposers to aboli- 
tionists, who, to be sure, do not enter their protest ex- 
actly in so many words, but this is " the plain English 
of it." Now, I am prepared to say at once, that as 
much as I admire and love the Christian religion, and 
an upright Christian ministry, could I for a moment be- 
lieve, that the most free and ample discussion of the 
authenticity and claims of this religion, would overthrow 
it, this very belief, of itself, would of course change my 
love and admiration into contempt. 

But, so far from this, my most deliberate and settled 
opinion is, that the Christian religion, " abolitionism," 
and every other system founded in truth, is, like an 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 395 

army " with banners," always victorious, and ever in- 
creasing in brilliancy and splendour, whenever in ac- 
tion, whether offensive or defensive. It does, to my 
mind, argue very little faith in the truth or justice of 
any institution or creed, for its friends to be " horrified" 
at the idea of having all its claims, openly and fairly 
canvassed before the whole world. My only fear is, 
that despotism, in the world, which ever desires silence 
and darkness, will continue too long to smother and 
obscure the truth, for the good of mankind, and that, by 
this means, it will not have "free course, run, and be 
glorified," 

Whenever this disposition to rob men of that high 
gift of their Creator, " the right of speech," is manifest- 
ed by the clergy, does it not savour of what the world 
too justly calls " priestcraft 1 ?" And would they not 
in this way, instead of disseminating truth and just prin- 
ciples, build up and establish ecclesiastical domination 
and spiritual despotism? I have yet to see a new 
revelation, to be convinced that oppression is the best 
way to promote " pure and undefiled religion." 

One would very naturally think, if this class of ob- 
jectors to the discussion of slavery were sincere, when 
they tell us they heartily approve of the sentiments and 
principles of the abolitionists, but cannot " swallow " 
some of the leading ones, (as the refined language of 
one is,) that if their appetites were very keen for such 
food as abolitionists relish, they would at least be wil- 
ling to sit down to the same table with them, and should 
they eat more genteelly, the example of their modesty 
and delicacy would, no doubt, tend much to rebuke the 
4i greediness " of *' the whole man," or " ultra abolition- 



396 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ists." But no J this they will not do, though they say 
their principles are the same. It must be, then, that 
what they fear is, that such a proximity to abolitionists 
would corrupt the purity and refinement of their man- 
ners. The conclusion then would be, that they think 
more of their manners than they do of their principles, 

There has been much said about Mr. Garrison and 
the Misses Grimkie. It is said their views are not 
orthodox respecting the Christian Sabbath, the Chris- 
tian ministry, &c, and therefore some "good abolition- 
ists," as they avow themselves to be, (to use their own 
diaiact,) cannot " swallow them," and are therefore de- 
termined " to pass by on the other side." 

I cannot better portray the conduct of disguised ene- 
mies to the cause of the oppressed under the cloak of 
friendship, than to do it in the graphic language of Ger- 
rit Smith, Esq., as seen in one of his late published let- 
ters. " That one who is doing nothing for the poor 
slave, and intending to do nothing for him, should be oc- 
cupied in pronouncing criticisms on the efforts which 
others are making for him, is about as unreasonable and 
imprudent as it is for the cowardly traitor to be survey- 
ing from some place of security which he has chosen 
for the purpose of observing the wrong evolutions, and 
to be counting up the mistakes of his countrymen who 
are periling their all in the thickest of the battle." In 
this same interesting letter we also find the following 
noble sentiments. " But if these pastors, whilst de- 
siring the Grimkies to quit the field, have no intention 
to take it themselves ; if they would have men also as 
well as women to be dumb in the cause of the " dumb" 
then I say, let not the Grimkies only continue their advo- 



ILLUSTRATED. 397 

eacy, but let all the women of New England, and all the 
children too, — yes, and the very stones of your streets, 
lift up their cry for the oppressed, and keep it up, until her 
men have quit their hiding places, and come up to the 
help of the Lord in this cause of crushed and perishing 
humanity." 

All now eagerly claim to be aboliiionists, to take that 
" hated name " upon them, which a little while ago was 
but a hissing and a bye-word. Coming events begin to 
cast their shadows before them. But, to become a 
" radical abolitionist " requires a sound conversion to 
great, and high, and nobly self-denying principles of 
freedom ; such as induce us to feel in the first place that 
all mankind, regardless of colour or condition, are " of 
one blood," of one family, " the children of one com- 
mon parent, and that, as such, are bound by one common 
brotherhood to treat one another with all that kindness 
and regard whirh we all so munificently and mercifully 
receive, and still fondly hope to enjoy from our Heavenly 
Father. In the second place, they are converted to such 
principles, as induce them to feel that if any portion of 
this common family become deprived by another portion 
of any of the inalienable gifts of our common Creator, 
that they are as sacredly bound to do every thing in their 
power lawfully and peacefully to restore these rights as 
they are to love, reverence, and obey their Creator, 
who commandeth all men to do unto others as they 
would that others should do unto them. They are also 
then unwilling to admit of any modifications of this high 
and holy principle on account of colour, condition, pre- 
judice, or " expediency." 

No wonder then that the real opposition to these just 

34 



398 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

and self-denying principles, in whatever plausible form 
it may be couched, is composed of heterogeneous mate- 
rials, and shows itself in a vast variety of ways. The 
phrase has already become stale, and^a mere cant, " I 
am an abolitionist, but not a hot headed one." I have 
come in contact with a number, who, by way of intro- 
duction, most unqualifiedly avowed themselves " aboli- 
tionists," but in the violence of their opposition to the 
"measures" of the "real abolitionists," or the true 
friends of the oppressed and the dumb, ere they were 
aware of it, found themselves advocating " colonization 
with all their might." I should think all this equivalent 
to saying " I am an abolitionist, but on the whole care 
very little about the ' niggers. 1 " Pretty abolitionists 
these ! ! I could wish they might be few and far be- 
tween. " Let every ship sail under its own colours." 

And we should certainly suppose that those who have 
so much to say about amalgamation would all be decid- 
edly in favour of this. On the one hand we hear the 
cry, " it is all political," and on the other, " I will not 
join you until you make it political." From another 
quarter we hear the alarm, it is all infidelity, and will 
overthrow the Christian sabbath, the Christian ministry, 
and finally the Christian religion ; and from another it is 
all priestcraft, and will unite church and state. From 
another quarter we hear the complaint, that the aboli- 
tionists are " denunciatory and intolerant ;" and the 
very next breeze wafts us the alarming intelligence that 
abolitionists are dangerously tolerant; that they are 
aiming at the subversion of all government, state, 
family, and even "patriarchal." But marvellous to know 
that in the very midst of all these alarms, from these va- 



ILLUSTRATED. 399 

rious quarters, the cause of the oppressed has been for 
some time past, and is yet steadily and rapidly onward 
to ultimate victory and triumph, when the " bands of 
wickedness shall be broken," every yoke cast off, and 
the redeemed of the Lord made free indeed, and come 
to Mount Zion with crowns, and with songs of everlast- 
ing rejoicing. 

Now if these objectors to the peculiar "manner" or 
"measures" of the " abolitionists " are sincere in their 
approval of their sentiments, as they say they are, why 
do they not most cordially unite in promulgating these 
principles, and in the mean time do what they can to 
correct whatever they might deem erroneous in others 
in regard to manner, &c. ? But what is this wonderful 
manner? Why, just what the manner of every sincere 
and honest anti-slavery man should be, that is, to be in 
good earnest to manifest his deep abhorrence to all the 
dreadful oppressions of his nation ! ! What would these 
same objectors think, if all the members of Christian 
churches in the world should rise up at once, and say, 
44 1 will no longer be a member of Christ's visible church 
on earth, because all the members are not perfect ?" In 
short, who does not see, that people, who are so very 
prone to proclaim aloud, and upon the house tops, all 
the faults (and in a magnified form,) of any body of 
men, and even to convert their very virtues into vices, 
that they cannot at heart be very friendly to the object 
which such men have in view? The manner never 
suits when the matter is offensive. 

It might be well, however, for us to bear in mind, 
that the entire north, as well as most of the souths 
slaveholders and all, have always been politely and very 



400 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

softly saying, " I am opposed to slavery, and think it a 
great evil," (or in other words, sin.) And all that abo- 
litionists are now doing is saying the same thing, but 
in sincerity and in good earnest, meaning just what they 
say. And is not this the only satisfactory reason that 
can be given, why slaveholders and their apologists are 
more vexed about it than they were when they too used 
the same language with an unmeaning emphasis I 



SFCTION XXXIV. 



I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE ABOLITIONISTS WILL NOT GO TO THE 
SOUTH TO DISCUSS THE SUBJECT." 



Now, without hesitation, I give it as my own opinion, 
that some portion, at least, of this very peculiar class 
of objectors to the discussion of slavery, knowing the 
unconstitutional and violent proceedings of the outlawed 
southern mobocrats and Lynchites on this subject, can 
at heart have no kinder feelings towards abolitionists, 
in making this unreasonable and ungenerous taunt upon 
them, than, as it were, indirectly to dare them into im- 
minent danger. And would it be uncharitable to con- 
clude, that this peculiar class alluded to, would, at least 
secretly, even exult in hearing that the lives of aboli- 
tionists were unconstitutionally, as well as inhumanly 
sacrificed, in such an attempt? 

But while I attribute such feelings to a part of the 
above described class of objectors to the discussion of 
slavery, (and for the credit of humanity, the character 
of my fellow-citizens, and the honour of my country, I 
would fain hope but a small part,) of a large proportion 
of this class I would desire, however, to exercise the 
charity towards them, that at least their feelings may be 
friendly to the anti-slavery cause, and none other than 

34* 



402 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

kind towards abolitionists. But admitting this class to 
be honest and sincere, it is believed that they are greatly 
deceived, if they think this at present would be even 
practicable ; or, if practicable, that because abolitionists 
from the north have not yet done it to much extent 
personally, that it forms any rational argument why they 
should not discuss the subject freely at the north. 

Abundance of testimony has already been adduced, 
and much more might be, that the north for a long time, 
(though professedly much opposed to slavery,) have 
been in comparative ignorance and slumber, both as it 
regards the moral, social, and political tendency of 
slavery upon our nation. One instance of proof posi- 
tive of this is, that while we have in words professed 
greatly to loathe and abhor slavery, we have in deeds 
most conclusively proved that our high professions could 
not have been of the most hearty and genuine kind ; or, 
if so, that we have at least long been acting in great 
and culpable ignorance and darkness on this subject, 
when we take into account, that in the very midst of all 
these professions, we have added to the original num- 
ber, by our votes, seven vast slave states, or markets, 
where human flesh, and human liberty, are con- 
stantly sold, under the hammer, to the highest bidder. 

The north also have cruelly persecuted those who 
have attempted to lift up their voice against slavery, or 
even attempted to investigate the subject. And it sure- 
ly is a problem, which I confess myself utterly unable 
to solve ; to make out wherein the north have not here- 
tofore, in a national point of view, been essentially as 
guilty of the sin of slavery, as the south. 



ILLUSTRATED. 403 

Moreover, would it be unfair or unsound argument to 
say that the north, in an important sense, have been 
even more guilty, by giving essential aid, and counte- 
nance, to our great national and crying sin of slavery, 
with far less temptation to it, than the south have had? 

Which should we deem the more criminal act, for the 
poor man to steal a dollar (as he might flatter himself 
from necessity) to buy his children bread, or the rich 
man to increase the bulk of his already overgrown cof- 
fers 1 Though the north has not sold the slave, her 
hands are even now extended for the " thirty pieces of 
silver." 

For more than half a century, we have, as a nation, 
been confessing our great and crying sin of slavery, be- 
fore the world, and before high Heaven ; but it ought 
ever seriously to be borne in mind, that merely confes- 
sing sin, without repenting of it, and forsaking it, is but 
solemnly mocking Him, who judgeth the tree by its 
fruit, or our hearts by our works. 

These very confessions, if seen to be heartless and 
hypocritical, instead of blessings, may righteously bring 
down judgements upon us as a people, as well as indi- 
viduals. But this great national reform, is undoubtedly 
destined to begin at the north. 

I will quote Luther, the great protestant reformer, as 
being applicable on this subject, at least by way of illus- 
tration. 

While he was proclaiming the truth, in the most pow- 
erful manner in Germany, he was often asked, (as if he 
did not understand his business,) why he did not leave 
Germany and go immediately into Italy, to hold forth 
his reformation doctrines. His reply used to be, that 



404 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

he was as yet barely tolerated in Germany, where the 
people were coming to their senses, and that ultimately 
the blaze of truth in Germany, would, by reflection, illu- 
minate all Italy. 

May the southern States in this way, be the Italy of 
America, and thus be illuminated by the universal dis- 
semination of truth throughout the north. May the 
north even be as a " city set on an hill, whose light can- 
not be hid ;" — and while the north gives up, " may the 
south keep not back," 

But break ev'ry yoke, let th* oppressed go free, 

To shout the loud song of Jubilee, 

That the blessings of Heaven may rest on our nation, 

And an honourable fame, e'er mark her station 

"Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a re- 
proach to any people." We are justly reproached as a 
people, not only by Him who judgeth the heart, but by 
the nations of the earth, for our great and crying sin of 
oppression. 

Why go to the south to discuss slavery ? when even 
the vestibule of this temple of abominations, at the very 
seat of the long boastedly freest government on the 
earth, cannot be entered by the friends of freedom, but 
is strongly guarded on all points, as with the drawn 
sword that turned every direction to guard the tree of 
life. 

Says the Hon. John Quincy Adams, in a recent let- 
ter to his friends on the state of things in the nation, 
and particularly at Washington, in relation to the slave- 
holding reign of " violence and terror :" — 



ILLUSTRATED. 405 

" The right of discussion upon slavery, and an indefi- 
nite extent of topics connected with it, is banished from 
one half of the States of this Union. 

" It is suspended in both houses of Congress — open- 
ed and closed at the pleasure of the slave representa- 
tion — opened for the promulgation of nullification soph- 
istry ; closed against the question, what is slavery? — 
at the sound of which, the walls of the capitol stagger- 
ed like a drunken man ! ! 

"For this suppression of the freedom of speech, and 
of the right of petition, the people of the free States oj 
this Union are responsible." 

In grappling with the monster, as the phrenologist 
would say, we have both combativeness and secretivenes* 
to contend with. 

Says Mr. Clay, while rebuking Mr. Calhoun for his 
rashness, in opposing even the reception of anti-slavery 
petitions : — 

" Our anxious aim should be to compose the north, 
to arrest the spirit of abolition, and thereby prevent agi- 
tation ! !" 

On another occasion, this slaveholding president of 
the slaveholder's Colonization Society, says "It is 
well known to the Senate, that I have constantly enter- 
tained the opinion, that the best way to check the spirit 
of abolition, [alias, a spirit to discuss slavery,] was to 
receive respectfully, and refer these petitions to the prop- 
er committee. 

" That would be (continues this senator,) the com- 
mittee on the District of Columbia, — one now, and 
which probably has been ever since the commence- 



406 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ment of the government, so constituted as to comprise 
a majority of members from the slaveholding 
States." 

" If they were thus refered, (he continues,) silently re- 
fered, as has been the practice during a great part of 
the period of the existence of the government, there 
would be no agitation fomented here, no ground for as- 
serting that the sacred right of petition had been viola- 
ted HP' 

Jin arch feat of lergerdemain this, to cheat a people 
out of their liberties ! ! 

Now the truth is, that slaveholding politicians are 
determined to resort to every artifice and subterfuge, to 
evade, as long as possible, an honest investigation of 
their very " peculiar institution," or in still more pecul- 
iar words, their " monstrosity of humanity." This same 
senator but a few days before this, on another occasion, 
said : " It is a bad cause that will not bear being reason- 
ed upon." So say we all. 

The conduct of the slave-representation in Congress, 
eertainly reminds one of the anecdote of the good Eng- 
lish parson, who, after having preached a most excel- 
lent discourse on the ^patience of Job," returned home 
and directed a mug of his best ale to be drawn. Word 
soon came, that some one had turned the faucet and the 
whole barrel had run out. 

The parson being more a theoretical than a practical 
man, at once fell into a rage. " Stop ! stop ! my dear," 
exclaims the good wife, " remember the 'patience of 
Job.'" — "Job! Job!" says the parson, "don't talk to 
me about Job, — Job never had a barrel of such ale at 
that ! !" 



ILLUSTRATED. 407 

So exclaims the slaveholding, and the pro-slavery 
demagogues, slavery ! slavery ! don't talk to me about 
slavery, — the world never had another so good institu- 
tion as this ! J ! 



SECTION XXXV. 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE THE SLAVES DO NOT WISH TO BE 
FREE." 

Now let this be as it may, it is but one man's opinion, 
or assertion, and can possibly form no valid objection 
to the free investigation of the whole subject of slavery. 

For instance, were we in slavery, should we be satis- 
fied to have the public sleep on the subject of our ser- 
vitude, and forever remain quiet, because, forsooth, 
masters should falsely proclaim to the world, that we did 
while we were not permitted to speak for ourselves, our 
not wish to be free ? 

Should we not rather wish, that the public voice 
should be, " that we ought, must, and should be free ?" 
and then, if we thought proper, voluntarily to re-enter 
into slavery, that would be our own business, and would 
be no invasion of our inalienable rights. While all free- 
men know there is no truth in U, still some have taken 
advantage of the obsequious state of some of the poor 
slaves in their degraded attempts to secure the favour of 
their masters, by that kind of slavish flattery, which 
would be very natural in their miserable condition, that 
they did not desire their freedom, while at the same 
time, the truth was, that they longed for it as we should, 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 409 

and perhaps were that very moment secretly plotting 
how to effect it ! ! 

The slaveholder has often tried to deceive northern 
freemen, by attempting to practise this kind of mean and 
wicked duplicity, in order, if possible, to reconcile man 
to his holding his fellow in cruel bondage, and ruth- 
lessly and wantonly working him, and selling him like 
the beast of the field. 

If this be a fair specimen of " southern chivalry," 
indeed I should think it would be equally as " chival- 
rous," not to say far less wicked, to peddle M wooden 
Mdmegs* 39 

But who must not see that all this must be weak and 
miserable subterfuge, to palm off upon northern and for- 
eign visiters, who at once see through the whole of it ; 
and when also the plain and positive contradiction of it 
all stands out in bold relief upon the pages of their 
own statute books, whereupon the slaveholders, know- 
ing full well that the slaves, like other men, value liber- 
ty next to life itself, have, therefore, by law granted 
them this inestimable 600??, in case of some very distin- 
guished services rendered by them, such as saving the 
lives of any of their masters, or any of their families, &c. 
by imminently jeopardizing their own. 

And many a poor slave-man has lost his own life in 
the desperate attempt thus to break his own heavy bonds 
and obtain his liberty, when no freeman, neither for 
friends, for silver, nor for gold, dared venture upon the 
life-hazarding enterprise. Were it necessary here, many 
most intensely interesting and thrilling examples of this 
kind might be cited, as evidence irresistible, how much 
men, even coloured men, love liberty. Who can with- 

35 



410 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

stand the touching appeals of such living and glowing 
eloquence for liberty? Every unbiased man who un- 
derstands human nature, must know that every indivi- 
dual on earth prizes his freedom far above every other 
earthly good. Who does not know that man has always 
most readily and cheerfully given his property, his sleep- 
less toil, nay more, often jeoparded life itself for his free- 
dom ? Indeed, the world's history presents little but 
one unbroken scene of struggling for liberty, for inde- 
pendence, or for conquest. 

Says Dr. Channing : " the choice which every free- 
man makes, of death for himself and his children, and 
of voluntary sacrifice of every thing he loves on earth, in 
preference to being enslaved, shows us all at once, most 
conclusively, what slavery is ! ! !" But I suppose, that 
even this dreadful and glowing portrait of slavery can 
give ms but a faint conception of it, to what he has who 
has long felt the grappling iron itself entered deep into 
his soul. 



SECTION XXXVI. 



* I AM OPPOSED TO DISCUSSING SLAVERY, AND TO 
PASTING ON THE SUBJECT, AND PRAYING ' AUDI- 
BLY' ABOUT IT, OR TO TALKING MUCH ABOUT IT 
AMONG ' OUR PEOPLE,' BECAUSE IT WILL DIVIDE 
OUR CHURCH, AND WHEN WE TRAVEL SOUTH WE 
SHALL NOT BE WELL RECEIVED BY OUR SLAVE- 
HOLDING BRETHREN." 

4< To be sure," says this pharisaical sectarian objector, 
u there are a great many things recorded in God's Holy 
Word, in relation to slavery and oppression, and many 
woes pronounced against these things, * in the abstract,' 
which I do not fully understand." For instance, many 
such blind and mysterious passages, as the 6th verse of 
the 58th chapter of Isaiah, are to be found in the Holy 
Scriptures : " Is not this the fast that I have chosen to 
loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, 
and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every 
yoke ?" And also in Proverbs, xiv. 31 : "He that op- 
■presseth the poor, reproacheth his JWaker : but he that 
honour eth him, hath mercy on the poor." But, adds 
this " pious objector," great is the mystery of ** godli- 
ness." 

All these very numerous passages in the Bible, says 
he, do indeed literally appear to be so many unequivo- 
cal and imperative commandments to man, but I pro- 



412 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

sume the Holy Ghost (he continues) meant they should 
be obeyed, only when it might be " expedient," and 
would not distract or divide "our church," for blessed is 
the peacemaker ! ! ! 

We must preach the gospel, says he, but it is not 
" expedient or prudent " to point out'particular sins, lest 
it " divide the brethren." Now, while the hand of op- 
pression, heavy as our noble fathers who were lovers of 
true liberty felt it to be from their mother country, still, 
it bore no kind of comparison whatever to that of our 
oppressions upon two and a half millions of our own suf- 
fering and enslaved countrymen, when they assembled 
with one accord, and with a high and noble daring, 
pledged " their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honour " to break the oppressor's rod ; should one of 
their number have been heard to say, I love liberty, and 
hate oppression in the " abstract," but I cannot go with 
you in "your measures," for the reason, that among the 
tories are many members of " my church," and I fear a 
division among my brethren ; would not our venerated 
ancestors, in those times that " tried men's souls ;" yes, 
would not even the venerable father of our country him- 
self, have quickly said to him, M henceforth, we must 
consider you our enemy, and the enemy of your country?" 

Had our fathers, in those eventful times, acted thus ; 
had they suffered their political or religious creeds, or 
any private or party considerations whatever, to have 
prevented their striking, as one man, for liberty, and for 
their country ; instead of our being elevated, as now, 
among the independent nations of the earth, we should 
be stigmatized, with all our posterity, on the pages of 
history, with " eternal disgrace," and should also still be 



ILLUSTRATED. 413 

suffering all the disabilities of rebel colonies of Great 
Britain. I mean not by this illustration, that we should 
take up arms in behalf of the oppressed in our country, 
but that we should immediately and decidedly take the 
side of the oppressed against the oppressor, morally and 
also politically, so far as we can act constitutionally. 

This exclusive anxiety about the mere external peace, 
prosperity, and union of " our church," is often founded 
ajid carried on in the world in great injustice and "inhu- 
manity to man ;" and instead of its pleasing God, it is 
often what his righteous and benevolent soul abhorreth. 

Said one recently, in whose religion, as well as patrio- 
tism, the country have as much confidence as in any 
other, while he was taking a review of all the past and 
present determined efforts of the northern part of all the 
national ecclesiastical bodies, still to combine their pro- 
slavery influence with the southern, to suppress free dis- 
cussion, in order to sustain slavery, under the sancti- 
monious plea of Union, at all hazards, in the church, 
(just as politicians talk of Union in the State,) " to ally 
a slaveholding church to one of unspotted garments, is 
to connect a loathsome carcass with living health and 
beauty ; and however pure, said he, the northern church 
may once have been, it is not strange, that after having 
dragged ' the body of this death ' for the greater part of 
a century, she should be infected with the putridity of her 
load, and exhibit her present unsightly aspect." 

Now, it does appear to me, that to an impartial eye, 
this 6hort quotation on this subject speaks volumes, at 
which both the Christian, and the patriot, have great 
cause to tremble ; for, where men destitute of the bene- 
rolence of the gospel, for their own selfish power and 

35* 



414 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

aggrandizement, impiously attempt to wrest the church 
from the hands of its great and glorious head, they are 
often made to feel their utter impotency, by seeing great 
external confusion arid desolation where, from the mere 
labour of their own " unclean hands," they looked for 
union, and found, when too late, that they had given the 
ark of the Lord an unhallowed touch. A mere sectarian 
spirit, regardless of justice and mercy, whenever and 
wherever found, is undoubtedly supremely selfish, anti- 
christian, inhuman, and " devilish;" and often steals the 
heart against every claim of humanity itself, and would 
enslave, instead of benefiting mankind. The priest and 
the Levite that passed by on the other side of the wounded 
man, were doubtless of this class. 

With regard to the church, every true believer in its 
invisible spirituality, let it once more be said, will ever 
have this consolation, that although " our church " may 
be divided, that " the church " never will be, so long as its 
great Head is on high. " Let us do justice, love mercy, 
and walk humbly before our God," and thereby prove 
ourselves the living branches of the living vine, and 
if "owr church " should happen to be divided on earth, 
the living branches will still be united to the living vine, 
and will forever live, and flourish, and bloom, in immor- 
tal glory in the church triumphant above} for " who shall 
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, 
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or 
peril, or sword T" 



SECTION XXXYII. 



"I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, BE- 
CAUSE ABOLITIONISTS ARE IN NUMBER * BUT A HAND- 
FUL,' AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE THEY SHOULD BE RIGHT. 
AND ALL THE REST OF THE WORLD WRONG." 

I do not believe, says this wise objector, in any abstract 
truth, but hold that "democracy of numbers" must al- 
ways be right. The constant and almost unanimous 
expression of all, in our own country, and in fact in the 
whole civilized world, most clearly contradicts these as- 
sertions. 

It is true, to be sure, that the openly professed aboli- 
tionists, who have as yet organized themselves into so- 
cieties, though a number of hundred thousands, are as 
yet comparatively few, but it should be remembered, 
that those few, who, out of love and sympathy for the 
poor slave, have been constrained to associate them- 
selves together, and have dared to carry out their prin- 
ciples into practice, before a slaveholding nation, in the 
face of frowns, and persecutions, fire, and death, do but 
stand out before the world, virtually as the representa- 
tives of the real sentiments of millions ; and who, in 
truth, speak the language of the heart of the great mass 
of mankind, whose names have not as yet been formally 
enrolled as abolitionists* or with any organized society 
for the promotion of freedom. Time often unfolds 
hidden mysteries. 



s 



416 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

Whoever has been dreaming, that all the abolition 
sentiments in the world are to be found among a few 
"weak and blind fanatics ," (so called by some chival- 
rous pro-slavery men in our land r ) who have associated 
themselves together under the name " Abolitionists," 
will doubtless ere long be awoke out of his reverie, by 
the louder, and still louder voice for freedom, when his 
delusive enchantment will be broken, and he will no 
longer " see men as trees walking." The truth is, that 
there are moral elements at work throughout the civil* 
ized world, which are yet far more to be felt in moulding 
the nations of the earth, and in shaping the destinies of 
men, of the present and after generations, than was all 
the influence, with his legions, which a Napoleon was 
ever able to command. The accomplishment,, too, of 
these immense results to man will not linger, for when 
we take into consideration the vastly improved condition 
of the world, in relation to the surprising facilities of 
printing, locomotion, &c, we see that time and 
space are comparatively annihilated ; and that r what 
once was the work of centuries, is now but the business 
of years or days. The " march of mind is mighty, and 
cannot be staid." Even the clashing of arms, or the 
roar of cannon, would only arouse the slumbering, and 
awaken the dead to life. Wiser would it be for a des- 
potic, but puny arm, to attempt to imprison the winds, 
or to chain the ocean's billows, than to try to repress, 
much longer, the hidden and half smothered, but ir> 
resistible energies of moral and intellectual power, 
for the Almighty is not the oppressor's God. Says 
the eloquent and powerful pen of Channing: "every 
principle of our government and religion condemns 



ILLUSTRATED. 417 

slavery. The spirit of our age condemns it. The 
decree of the civilized world is gone out against it. 
England has abolished it. France and Denmark me- 
ditate its abolition. The chain is falling from the serf 
in Russia. In the whole circuit of civilized nations, 
with the single exception of the United States, not a 
voice is lifted up in defence of slavery. All the great 
names in legislation and religion are against it. The 
most enduring reputations of our times have been won 
by resisting it. Recall the great men of this and the 
last generation, and be they philosophers, philanthropists, 
poets, economists, statesmen, jurists, all swell the repro- 
bation of slavery. The leaders of opposing religious 
sects, Wesley, the patriarch of methodism, Edwards and 
Hopkins, pillars of Calvinism, join as brothers in one 
solemn testimony against slavery. And is this an age, 
in which a free and Christian people shall 'deliberately 
resolve to extend and perpetuate the evil? In so doing 
we cut ourselves off from the communion of the nations, 
— we sink below the civilization of our age, — we in- 
vite the scorn, indignation, and abhorrence of the world. 
"I wish not to be understood as having the slightest 
doubt as to the approaching fall of the institution of 
slavery," continues this able and justly distinguished 
writer in his late letter to Mr. Clay, on the subject of 
the meditated annexation of Texas to the United States. 
"It may be prolonged," says he, "to our reproach and 
great ultimate suffering, but fall it ivill, and must. The 
advocates of slavery must not imagine that to carry a 
vote is to sustain their cause. To succeed, they must 
roll back time to the dark ages ; must send back Luther 
to the cell of his monastery ; must extinguish the glow- 



418 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ing light of Christianity and moral science ; must blot 
out the declaration of American independence. The fall 
of slavery is as sure as the descent of your own Ohk). 
In the most enlightened countries of Europe a man 
would forfeit his place in society by vindicating slavery. 
The slaveholder must not imagine that he has nothing 
to do but to fight with a few societies. They are strong, 
only as representing the spirit of the Christian and civ- 
ilized world. The world is against him, and the world's 
Maker. Every day the sympathies of the xuorld are for- 
saking him. Can he hope to sustain slavery against the 
moral feeling, — the solemn sentence of the human race ?" 
This sounds very different from Mr. Calhoun's doc- 
trine, that all who oppose slavery are "weak-minded 
fanatics," and that " slavery is the best basis of 

FREEDOM." 

We often hear much said about ultraism and ultraists, 
but I am compelled to come to the conclusion, that there 
are some, at least, who, with a kind of apishness, often 
make use of these and similar terms reproachfully, who, 
at the same time, hardly know what they would them- 
selves mean by them ; for who does not know, that a 
multitude of names grace the annals of history, as pio- 
neers in great reforms, whose possessors, by having 
their attention especially called to a given subject, and 
divesting themselves of the dark and cumbrous preju- 
dices of the age in which they lived, with almost pro- 
phetic vision have penetrated centuries ahead of their 
cotemporaries. 

Many such men, it is true, through ignorance, preju- 
dice, and malignity, have been persecuted ; and many 
such have thus been tyrannically put to death for opin- 



JLLUSTRATED. 419 

ion's sake ; but whose very death blessed the world as 
much or more than their long and valuable lives could 
have done ! ! 

We all know that the term tdtra simply means beyond, 
or farther on ; but we see how prone we all are, proba- 
bly from a secret, and perhaps almost unconscious spirit 
of detraction, to brand our fellow-men with the igno- 
minious epithet, " knave or fool," who dare entertain 
and express opinions beyond our own limited, preju- 
diced, and purblind conceptions. Is it wisdom to close 
our eyes to an approaching evil, until it fall upon us, to 
our utter destruction ? 



SECTION XXXVIII. 



" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
BECAUSE THE SUBJECT IS ALREADY PERFECTLY 
WELL UNDERSTOOD BY THE PEOPLE." 



I have noticed the great variety of objections to dis- 
cussing slavery, which have been, and are yet, to consi- 
derable extent, prevalent; that when they were analyzed, 
and held up to view, it might be seen how very little 
they amounted to. 

It is the most agreeable to us all, and is certainly no 
more than candour, to put the most charitable construc- 
tion upon the conduct and the motives of our fellow- 
men. I would, therefore, fain suppose that this ob- 
jector, knowing little or nothing on the subject of slave- 
ry himself, presumes there is nothing to be known of it 
by others. If so, he has but to go just one step farther, 
and his conclusion would be, that there is no slavery 
in the world ; that it is all a chimera. He would by 
this time, I should suppose, be fairly qualified to be 
a disciple of Mr. Calhoun, and could begin to prate 
the doctrine that " Slavery is the best basis of free- 
dom." The only alternative conclusion at which we 
should be forced to arrive, (if this objector is himself 
well informed on the whole subject of slavery,) would 
be, by his holding out an idea, that the public already 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 421 

understood all about it, — that he meant to deceive the 
public. 

It is true, whenever demagogues wish to accomplish 
their own ends, they have generally attempted to flatter 
the vanity of M the dear people " into a kind of intoxica- 
tion, with the idea that they already knew all things. 
As the fox addressed the crow, " how delightfully 
you can sing!" with his mouth wide open, ready to 
catch the cheese, when it fell from her beak, as she 
commenced her sweet notes. 

This is the fact, it is believed, that a virtuous people 
will always act right, when they know what that right 
is. But how can it be expected, that we should know 
what right and truth are, without much care and inves- 
tigation? Liberty is always purchased at too dear a 
rate, and is also worth too much to be long retained, 
without great vigilance and effort. 

No judicious parent would ever say to his child, 
" My child, you are altogether brighter than the children 
of my neighbours ;" but rather would he say, "if you 
make greater efforts, you will be likely to excel them 
in well-doing." Most of my readers would probably 
agree with me, that conceit and self-complacency, to 
which human nature is so prone, render us all more or 
less inclined to think that we fully understand many 
things, of which we have as yet comparatively hardly 
learned the alphabet. However humiliating this may 
be to our pride and self-esteem, I nevertheless believe 
it to be no less the fact. 

It would be very natural to appeal for proof of this to 
the universal experience of mankind. For an example ; 

36 



422 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

where can the man be found, who is now fully converted 
to the doctrine of immediate emancipation, of all who 
are in bonds, without crime, who is not ready to say, 
that he has been so converted by irresistible arguments 
and facts, developed to his mind even at the time he 
was still complimenting himself, that as for him, he had 
little then to learn on the subject of slavery? 

In showing the mutability of human opinions, preju- 
dices and taste, a very able writer well remarks, that 
" what is deemed visionary to-day, may be debatable to- 
morrow, sensible the next day, unanswerable the day 
after, and a truism at last." 

If these things be so, would it not become those, who 
yet harbour so much of this " blindfold prejudice " against 
the anti-slavery cause and its friends, at once to take the 
bandage from their eyes, and to pause and reflect? Are 
they afraid if they do this, that they shall be converted 
by truth, ere they are aware of it, to an unpopular cause, 
and that they cannot float so easily upon the popular 
current 1 Oh, " expediency" thou ruiner of individuals, 
and of nations ! how long wilt thou be permitted to hold 
thy usurped dominion over the world to the exclusion of 
right, the only just and lawful sovereign of every people ? 
Though the latter has many professed friends, she has 
but few that follow her through evil as well as through 
good report. When I come in contact with one, who 
says, " the people know all about slavery ;" " we want 
none of your abolition lecturers to enlighten us;" and 
adds, " the north have had nothing to do with slavery ; 
it is all very unfortunately entailed upon us by our fa- 
thers," and it is incendiary for us to say ought against 
it. I just ask my friend if he will be so good as to in- 



ILLUSTRATED. 423 

form me, how stands the northern congressional vote on 
the admission of seven slave states, since the organization 
of the federal compact, and long since most of our fathers 
passed off the stage? This is a test question on this 
point, the conclusion of which must be unavoidable ; for 
who cannot see if they will, that actions or votes speak 
much louder than mere professions, and in a language 
which cannot be misinterpreted ? This is as true of na- 
tions as of individuals. 



SECTION XXXIX 



" I AM AS MUCH OPPOSED TO SLAVERY AS ANY ONE CAN 
BE, AND THINK IT IS A MOST DREADFUL EVIL ; BUT I 
AM OPPOSED TO HAVING IT DISCUSSED, BECAUSE I 
AM A COLONIZATIONIST," 

Indeed ! ! ! this most enchanting word colonization, con- 
tains the real genuine patent salve for wounded con- 
sicences on account of slavery. I would recommend to 
any one who is desirous to find a complete antidote for 
his misgivings of conscience on the subject of slavery, to 
employ some one immediately who has a clear and beau- 
tiful enunciation, just to pronounce the word "coloniza- 
tion n a few times in his bearing, and all will be quiet. 
The peculiarly soothing qualities in this word, " coloni- 
zation" if rightly pronounced, according to the most 
approved rules of elocution, has been often found to be 
the very " balm of Gilead " for the lacerations of con- 
science, which that awful and most dangerous and " de- 
nunciatory " word " abolition " has made ! ! But, to the 
point. Suppose you do call yourself a colonizationist, 
what then 1 Are you not willing still to hear facts and 
arguments on the subject of slavery? Suppose they 
should not all appear to agree with your own precon- 
ceived notions. Jlbolhionists are not only willing, but 
even anxious to hear all that the colonizalionists can say 
on the whole subject of slavery, in all its bearings. 
The writer was himself, as he before suggested, a 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 425 

member of a Colonization Society, and he then verily 
believed that every colonizationist in the land was hos- 
tile to slavery, and was doing, and still ready to do, every 
thing reasonably within his power to abolish it. But he 
is now well satisfied that this was then and is yet far other- 
wise — I have frequently heard it remarked, that in al- 
most every instance where Judge Jay's Inquiry 
into the object and tendency of the colonization scheme, 
had been carefully read, the reader became well satisfied 
that the society was in truth a pro-slavery one. I be- 
lieve, very many men at the north, with benevolent in- 
tentions, and some at the south, have been induced to 
think that the colonization scheme was the very plan to 
abolish slavery in the United States. 

Gerrit Smith, Esq. who is now President of the New 
York State Abolition Society, with many others, undoubt- 
edly once thought so. Had I space enough here, I 
think I could show, to every impartial and unprejudiced 
mind, most conclusively, from the principles and pro- 
ceedings of the Colonization Society itself, that it is vir- 
tually, wholly in the slaveholding interest, and not anti- 
slavery at all. All this may be, and still but few of its 
members be fully conscious of it. 

It is certainly a most remarkable fact, which every 
intelligent abolitionist is now fully prepared to demon- 
strate, that while " colonization " for years has been one 
thing at the north, it has been another and a vastly dif- 
ferent thing at the south, which the very few quotations 
out of many which might be adduced may serve in some 
degree to show to the unbiassed and discerning mind. 
The leading colonization men, (who are mostly slave- 
holders,) so far from expecting, or even desiring that this 

36* 



426 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

society should ever do away slavery, their prominent 
doctrine is, (though not in so many words, for it would 
alarm the world,) that it rivets the chains tighter and 
tighter upon their slaves. 

Great numbers of good men, in this society, as in po- 
litical parties, it is fully believed, know little of what their 
leaders are doing. A superficial view of the scheme 
looks plausible on paper, for it has the semblance of 
benevolence and humanity ; but it has most clearly 
stolen the very " livery of heaven to serve the devil in." 
In reality— ~ 

11 It is a monster of so frightful mien, 
As to be hated needs but to be seen." 

Whoever may be disinclined to believe all this, by 
impartially reading the late edition of Judge Jay's ad- 
mirable work on colonization, I think can no longer 
doubt the correctness of the opinion, that the present 
colonization crusade, is the doing of evil, and only evil 
continually, with but the pretension that good may come. 
All this may be and still be true, that there are some be- 
nevolent hearts interested in this object. 

I am fully aware that these are grave and startling 
charges to some. But let us listen a moment to their 
leading organs, and then judge for ourselves. In their' 
2d report, page 9th, they declare that they confidently 
believe that the " colonization " of the free people of 
colour, will render the slave who remains in America, 
more obedient, more faithful, more honest, and conse- 
quently more useful to his master. Again : " By 
removing the most fruitful sources of discontent, (the 
free blacks) from among our slaves, we should render 



ILLUSTRATED. 427 

them more industrious and attentive to our commands. 11 
Address of Putnam, (Georgia) Colonization So- 
ciety. " What greater pledge can we give for the mo- 
deration, and safety of our measures, than our own inter- 
ests, as slaveholders, and the ties that bind us to the 
slaveholding community to which we belong ?" Speech 
of Mr. Key, Vice-President, 11th report, page 14th, 
" The injury that they (the free blacks) do to the slave- 
holder's property by their influence upon his servants, 
would, if valued, amount to more than sufficient to con- 
vey them from us." Address of Rev. C. Young to the 
Colonization Society, African Repository, 111, 67. 

*' To remove these persons from among us will increase 
the usefulness, and improve the moral character of those 
who remain in servitude, and with whose labours the 
country is unable to dispense. 11 Address to a North 
Carolina Colonization Society, African Repository, 
111,67. 

" The tendency of the scheme, and one of its ob- 
jects, is to secure slaveholders and the whole southern 
country against certain evil consequences growing out of 
the present threefold mixture of our population." Ad- 
dress to a Virginia CoL Society, African Repository. 
4, 274. 

" By removing these people {the free blacks) we rid 
ourselves of a large party, who will always be ready to 
assist our slaves in any mischievous design they may con- 
ceive. 11 Address to a Colonization Society in Virginia, 
African Repository, 1, 167. 

" Are they (the free blacks) vipers sucking our blood ? 
We will hurl them from us ! !" Address to Lynchburgh 
Colonization Society, African Repository 3, 201. 



428 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

11 We might well think such a sentiment of hurling 
people out of the country headlong, might very fitly 
emanate from Lynchburgh, if the character of its inhab- 
itants corresponds with the name." Again : By thus 
repressing the rapid increase of blacks, the white popula- 
tion would be able to reach and soon overtop them. 
"The consequence would be security." — African Re- 
pository, 4, 344. 

The New-Orleans (a colonization) Journal, in speak- 
ing of hurling the free blacks out of the country, says, 
" So far from having a dangerous tendency, when prop- 
erly considered, it will be viewed as an additional guard 
to our '•'■peculiar species of property." 

And again — which is the last I will cite here among 
very many such " beatiful extracts," that might be quo- 
ted : — 

" The removal of every free black in America, would 
be productive of nothing but safety to the slaveholder." 
— African Repository, 3d, 207. 

At a late meeting of Colonization slaveholders in 
Richmond, Virginia, the notable Henry A. Wise 
being present, was called on by acclamation for a 
speech, to which he arose and said : " He was once a 
member of a colonization society; that he strongly ap- 
proved of its original design ; but that when an effort 
was made in the Parent society in Washington by 
Mr. Gerret Smith, Dr. Breckenridge, and others, 
to pervert it from its original object, [which was, to 
hurl free blacks out of the country to make the poor 
slaves the more secure in their chains,] he had with- 
drawn, and watched the institution with a jealous eye. 
He feared it might be made an engine of the aboli- 



ILLUSTRATED. 



429 



tionists ; and if it should be, it would prove a fearful 
one to the south." 

Poor men! Their circumstances are indeed unen- 
viable. I know of no other course for them, if they are 
set on rushing headlong to ruin, instead of obeying God 
and opening their mouths wide for the oppressed and 
the dumb, but to implicitly obey the dictation of the 
Congress of these United States, and at once padlock 
their mouths on the whole subject of slavery, as^ a sub- 
ject not even to be named. Indeed, it never ought to 
be named under these heavens as having a place in any 
nook or corner upon this footstool. 

Mr. Wise also said, that " he did not recommend the 
Colonization Society until he had ascertained to hi$ 
satisfaction, at the head-quarters in Washington, that it 
might be safely depended on to strengthen that interest," 
(slaveholding.) 

The editor of the Richmond Whig said, " there was 
fear that the mass of mankind would not discriminate 
between colonization and emancipation; that the com- 
mon mind, in becoming a convert to the first, might 
consider itself bound to advocate the latter ; and (con- 
tinues this slaveholding editor,) believing as we do that 
slavery, as it exists in the southern States, is an institu- 
tion good in itself, yielding to the blacks the greatest 
amount of happiness of which they are by nature sus- 
ceptible, and developing the no blest faculties of the whites, 
we look with a jealous eye to whatever may have a tend- 
ency to impair it ; and we are the more suspicious be- 
cause of the crusade now preached against us by the 
whole civilized world." 

If making men tyrannical and despotic in their prin- 



430 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

ciples and their feelings can be called developing their 
noblest faculties, then indeed this slaveholding editor is 
right. That this is the legitimate tendency of one class 
of men having another class entirely under their control, 
needs no argument whatever to prove. The history of 
the world and every day's observation more than con- 
firm it. 

Whoever will take the trouble to read the history of 
the manners and customs of slaveholding countries, 
cannot doubt that slaveholding tends directly to make 
men petty despots. Indeed, every man knows, from 
his own common sense, that all this is but human 
nature. 

Now, allowing all the philanthropy of individual colo- 
nizationists that may be claimed, what can the plain 
English of the universally approved doctrine of the 
Colonization Society, to wholly disapprove of emanci- 
pation in any case whatever except it be coupled with 
an assent to immediate expatriation, amount to but this : 
that notwithstanding this nation has kidnajjped the poor 
African, dragged him into this land, and cruelly com- 
pelled him, by taskmasters and chains, to make it his 
adopted country, where are now their graves of many 
generations ; and notwithstanding this wronged, op- 
pressed, suffering, and enslaved people have by us been 
compelled to unrequited labour and toil for two hundred 
years to convert this once wilderness land into a para- 
dise for us, we now behold them in numbers so great, 
though in chains, we begin to tremble for our own 
safety, and, from the same selfish and wicked policy that 
first brought them into bondage, we say to them, " we 
have enslaved you, sold you, and worked you, without 



ILLUSTRATED. 431 

pay, as long as we think it safe for ourselves ; and now, 
if you will forever leave the country, naked and destitute, 
and never even ask us for what we honestly owe you, we 
will most benevolently and graciously condescend to ex- 
tend our kind and merciful hand to take off your fetters, 
handcuffs, and chains." Be the same more or less, this 
is but the simple unvarnished interpretation of that odious 
and very wicked emancipation policy connected with the 
condition of an assent to immediate expatriation. 

But, says one, they ought to think themselves well 
dealt by if they can even obtain their liberty in this way. 
What would you think of a man, if he should seriously 
say to you that you ought to pay him $250, because he 
had a good chance to rob you of $500, and did not do 
it ! ! ? Or, were you a foreigner, or a native-born citizen 
in this country, what would you think of an American, 
who honestly owed you a given sum, but would pay you 
no part of it only on the painful condition that you would 
forever leave the country? Even this kind of benevo- 
lence of colonization is but rare. Its usual and almost 
universal benevolence is to hurl the free coloured people, 
who have obtained their freedom by hard labour, out 
of the country as soon as possible, and almost in any 
manner, before they excite human property to assert its 
humanity, and burst its chains. 

Even were it just and wise in this nation to drive so 
large a portion of its physical power from it as the two 
and a half millions of the labouring population, we can 
at once judge of its utter impracticability, when we find 
that the great national Colonization Society, during all 
its efforts for twenty years, has only taken away the 
increase for a few weeks. But did the South once 



432 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

dream that all her labouring strength was to be severed 
from her, she would oppose it more than she now does 
abolition itself; for she well may know, it would de- 
populate the entire slave States. 

Two opinions, the belief of which have for a long 
time kept a large portion of the north in some patience 
with the slavery of this nation, are, in my opinion, with- 
out a particle of foundation. One is, that the slave- 
holders would very soon emancipate their slaves if let 
entirely alone, — and that this, probably, was the better 
way. The other is, a kind of unaccountable timidity or 
moral cowardice, (originating in ignorance of the true na- 
ture of the case,) that if we said a word against slavery, 
the slaveholders would instantly be thrown into a fit of 
insanity and desperation to " dissolve the Union" and 
at once surrender themselves into the hands of their 
own slaves, to be dealt with without mercy. 

It is thought that enough has previously been said in 
regard to all such opinions, by the aid of our own com- 
mon sense, with their specified qualifications, to show 
their utter futility. 

While I cannot for a moment doubt, that there are 
colonizationists who are men of great benevolence, and 
who think they see, by an " eye of faith," all Africa 
christianized through the American Colonization 
Society, and the last yoke cast off from the last of her 
unhappy sons exiled in America ; still, that the great body 
of the southern colonizationists, who are mostly large 
slaveholders and traffickers in human flesh, can have 
any such expectation, or even desire, appears to me must 
require a very great amount of credulity to credit, when 
such is their language in one breath ; but in the very 
next, their language is, either that " slavery is the best 



ILLUSTRATED* 433 

basis of freedom," or a "divine institution;" or, that 
** there will be no safety for our property (slaves) until 
we hurl these wretched free blacks out of the country ;" 
and in the third breath, that the " south can never dis- 
pense with African labour," which appears to be an 
almost universal admission among slaveholders and co- 
lonizationists ; while at the same instant they declare 
that they are in favour of emancipation no faster than 
the emancipated shall be colonized. Now, I have to 
acknowledge, that it is entirely beyond my humble ca- 
pacity to make all this jargon hang together. 

Mr. Calhoun, claiming to be the great organ and 
dictator of slaveholding politicians, with all their north- 
ern abettors, (and, as one might well think, from his late 
unprecedented influence in the Senate of the United 
States on this subject, very justly so claiming,) lately 
made the grave and important declaration in that Senate, 
that the " different colours in this country were insepar- 
ably united beyond the possibility of a separation." 

Whoever cares enough about the welfare of his coun- 
try, or his/ree, or his enslaved countrymen, to take the 
trouble to look into the subject, by reading the slave 
laws, (which are at once the most authentic, as well as 
the most prolific sources of correct information on the 
whole subject of slavery,) will soon find, to his own as- 
tonishment, that when slaveholders become impatient 
with the tardy movements of the colonization wheels, in 
rolling American citizens (free coloured people) out of 
their country by a more circuitous route, they uncere- 
moniously, in their " vengeful impatience," just " cut 
across lots," and actually banish them by law from their 

37 



434 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

respective States, in open and high-handed violation of 
the constitution of the United Stales. 

A law to this effect has existed some time in Mary- 
land. Louisiana also passed the same law at the late 
session of her legislature. But no matter, thinks one. 
they are nothing but " niggers." I told you so, says 
another, " you abolition agitators have done all this." 

And here I cannot withhold my sober and uni impas- 
sioned sentiment, that the whole spirit of American slav- 
ery and oppression is nothing less than the very spirit of 
the abodes of the "blackness of darkness ;" and that, 
unless speedily overcome by the blessing of Heaven, 
through the renovating power of light and truth, it will 
finally, not only banish or enslave the free, regardless 
of colour, but imprison freedom herself. Its motto ap- 
pears to be, "peaceably if we can, but forcibly if we 
must." This is precisely the same "expedient" and 
wicked policy pursued towards our Indians, which makes 
even military men revolt at it.* 

But I would fain trust that the American people are 
no longer to be duped by this plausible, but deceptive 
scheme of slaveholding colonization ; for it is now dis- 
tinctly seen, that so far from its even pointing towards 
the emancipation of the two arid a half millions of our 
oppressed and enslaved countrymen, it would rather en- 
slave or banish those who are yet, at least, nominally 
free, that those who are already in actual bondage may 
thereby remain the more secure in their chains, none 
being left, in mercy, to file them off. 



* General Jessup's late letter to the Secretary of War, recom- 
mending a discontinuance of the Florida war. 



ILLUSTRATED. 435 

Upon this same principle, the dark anti-liberty spirit 
would fain banish or enslave abolitionists, or any other 
class of American citizens, " bleached or unbleached," 
who dare speak like men about slavery and liberty. 

Now, in view of all these incongruous and totally 
contradictory statements from the slaveholding or co- 
lonization interest, in addition to the important fact, 
that among the hosts of Presidents and Vice-PRESi- 
dents of this famous and mysterious society, (most of 
whose officers have been large slaveholders and slave 
traffickers,) not one, it is learned, has ever been known 
to have emancipated a single slave for colonization, or 
for any other purpose, who must not believe, whatever 
may be the object of this society, that its tendency, at 
least, must be any thing but benevolent or anti-slavery. 

Does it look much like the benevolence of the " gos- 
pel of peace and good-will to man," to "hurl from us such 
a lot of wretched nuisances," (as the slaveholders call 
them,) from such motives, to christianize all Africa, as 
they tell us at the north, where they are, many of them, 
again soon kidnapped, and brought back and sold over 
and over again into slavery ? 

For a nation, well known to all Africa to be carrying 
on land kidnapping and pirating to the dreadful extent 
that this guilty nation is, to send its agents as Christian 
missionaries to the African chieftains, to persuade them 
to cease their bloody conflicts, — to kidnap their fellow- 
men to sell to water pirates, — is about as consistent, 
and will probably have about the same effect (unless 
miraculously overruled against all means, adapted to an 
end,) as it would have had before the commencement of 
the temperance reform, for all the venders and drinkers 



436 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

of ardent spirits, while yet themselves selling and drink- 
ing, to attempt to rebuke the distillers or the manufac- 
turers of intoxicating drinks. 

I have sold out and drank out the load of alcohol,. 
Mr. Distiller, that I purchased of you last week, and 
have now come for another load : — but, pray, why do 
you continue this unhallowed and destructive business 
to the best interests of your fellow-men? 

But, replies the distiller, why do you continue to drink 
and to sell this destructive article? 

O. replies the vender, after it is once manufactured, 
if I don't sell it and drink it r somebody else will ! ! i 

So reasons the trafficker in human flesh. I know, 
says he, that the business of slaveholding and slave traf- 
ficking is like adding fuel tojire, in keeping up the cruel 
and bloody strife for captives for the " Christian's gold" 
among the long distressed and unhappy sons of Africa. 
But, exclaims the pious slavetrader, we slaveholders, 
slave traffickers, and colonizationists, have faith to be- 
lieve that we shall soon christianize all Africa ; and, in 
the mean time, if we don't sell these Africans and all 
their posterity into endless slavery, somebody else will, 
and perhaps, too r they will sell them to u injidel mas- 
ters." Could not this pharisaical veil be very conveni- 
ently thrown over any other crime of the deepest die, 
from the same artful and plausible pretext ? A great 
villain once confessed on the scaffold that he had robbed 
and murdered a man, because he overheard some other 
villains plotting how to do it; and he spoke of it, too, 
by way of palliation of his crime. 

But time and space suggest to me, that I should refer 
any one for further information on this part of the subject 



ILLUSTRATED. 437 

to Judge Jay's Inquiry, (late edition,) and to Judge 
Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws. The information 
to be derived from these sources, (to those who may 
not already have had the opportunity of reading these 
books,) will be invaluable. They disclose many deep- 
ly interesting and astounding facts, in relation to the 
whole subject of slavery and colonization, which every 
American citizen, and every lover of liberty, ought to 
understand, whether he be a Christian, a philanthropist, 
or a patriot. 

I will here give it as my own humble but deliberate 
opinion, that so long as the slave traffic is carried on in 
the world, colonizing coloured persons to Africa can 
be productive of no good whatever ; for the very obvi- 
ous reason that wicked inducements are constantly held 
out, by all slaveholding countries, to the hosts of barba- 
rous chieftains of that unhappy country, to carry on their 
bloody conquests, to obtain captives to sell to " Chris- 
tians" or, as some of these chieftains say, to white 
** devils" or " Christian dogs ! ! /" 



37* 



SECTION XL. 

" I AM OPPOSED TO THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY, 
AND TO EMANCIPATION, BECAUSE THE SIAVES 
ARE BETTER OFF THAN THE POOR LABOURING 
WHITE PEOPLE ARE AT THE NORTH." 

As I fear that I have already overtaxed the patience 
of my reader, I shall leave this objection, together with 
the whole subject, as I have been enabled to present it, 
to the impartial and candid judgement of all, simply by 
quoting a few of the southern laws, both in relation to 
slaves, and to the coloured people called free, as grow- 
ing out of the purely despotic nature of slavery itself, 
believing that people of judgement always prefer to 
have their understandings addressed with facts and ar- 
guments, to barely having their imaginations entertain- 
ed, and their sympathies excited, by mere declamation. 
Whoever could be eloquent in painting the scenery of 
the moon, doubtless could make a fine colonization 
speech. 

The only apology I expect to find in the mind of my 
reader, for saying as much as I have on this subject, is, 
both the importance, and also the very nature itself of 
the great theme of human liberty. 

To the objection of a slaveholder, to having any re- 
ference whatever made to the condition of slaves in ihe 



LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 439 

slave States, the Hon. Wm. Slade recently replied on the 
floor of Congress, that he quoted the slave-laws as he 
would a dictionary, to show what slavery is. In this, 
he was undoubtedly correct ; for the executed laws among 
all people, most conclusively demonstrate their actual 
moral, social, and political condition. 

In this, there can be no sophistry, no declamation, no 
exaggeration, and no " denunciation." It stands up 
and speaks for itself, in language that cannot be gain- 
sayed, in argument that cannot be controverted ; and 
with a power that cannot be resisted, except by some 
overpowering and sordid interests. 

Had it been any part of the design of this work to 
have drawn out an array of instances of the unutterable 
barbarities and cruelties, as the legitimate results of the 
bloody and atrocious system of cruel man holding his 
fellow-man as a mere chattel, — I should have drawn 
largely from the narratives of such men as Charles Ball 
and James Williams, who had themselves long been 
slaves, but were at last mercifully delivered " so as by- 
fire," from the jaws of the monster. The latter of these 
our countrymen, closes his most thrilling narrative in the 
following language : — 

" Oh, if the miserable men and women, now toiling 
on the plantations of Alabama, could know that thou- 
sands in the free States are praying and striving for 
their deliverance, how would the glad tidings be whis- 
pered from cabin to cabin, and how would the slave 
mother, as she watches over her infant, bless God on 
her knees, for the hope that this child of her day of sor- 
row might never realize, in stripes and toil, and grief 
unspeakable, what it is to be a slave !" 



440 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

My references to the slave laws in this place must 
necessarily be very limited ; but I would respectfully, 
but most earnestly, request every man who would love 
and promote rational freedom, and who desires to know 
what slavery really is, if he has not already done so, at- 
tentively to read Judge Stroud's, and other recent valu- 
able works on the bloody and most revolting slave 
code ; for it is only through laws and corresponding 
practices, (from "stem necessity," as the slaveholders 
say,) growing out of slavery, that all the untold and un- 
utterable horrors of slavery can be seen in their true 
light. Did I say in their true light ! ! ! 

But even then, they can be but faintly conceived of, 
but by him, who is himself under the chains and the 
lash, and has the cruel iron of slavery sunk deep into his 
own soul. 

We sometimes hear a kind of brutish exclamation 
from some persons of very gross conceptions of human 
liberty ; how foolish that " black fellow " must have been 
to run away from so " good a master /" 

Look at the poor Indian who has always been driven 
from his own lands, and from his native home, by the 
point of the white man's bayonet, and still is driven from 
place to place, and suffers and endures every possible 
privation to enjoy his native freedom ! ! 

And what freeman, be he ever so poor and degraded, 
would voluntarily sell himself, and his posterity forever 
after him, to the best man on the earth 1 There~is no 
instance on record of a human being voluntarily selling 
himself past hope of redemption, under any circum- 
stances whatever. The truth is, that man, by his 
Creator, was made as free as the fish that glides in the 



ILLUSTRATED. 441 

water, the bird that flits in the air, or the beast that 
roams the forest ; and he remained so, until fallen man's 
inhumanity to man, with " fiend ambition," forged his 
cruel chains. The height and perfection of all temporal 
human freedom, under a civil government, is strict obe- 
dience to just and equal laws founded on the moral code 
given to us by our great Lawgiver. 

Every human being feels the inestimable blessing of 
this freedom, when he is conscious of living under such 
a government. 

But, by intuition, quick to discern his equal rights, 
whenever he sees and feels the heavy hand of oppres- 
sion upon him, he readily and very justly regards him- 
self as robbed of that by his fellow, which his Creator 
designed him to enjoy. Is there an Indian who has 
been driven from his dear native home, (where are still 
the graves of his ancestors,) by " Christians," into the 
far western wilds, and is now surveying, as it were 
upon the rocky mountains, his last leap into the Pacific 
Ocean, and who has himself suffered and endured so 
much hardships and privation to maintain his native 
freedom, but would at once be an independent and a 
whole souled abolitionist? 

A pure, a noble, and an untrammelled mind, is always 
in favour of universal freedom and equal rights, for all, 
and forever ; but party, or prejudice, through •• interest 
I'i/e," is the bane of life. 

I was much gratified by the very sensible and noble 
reply of an intelligent lady, to my question, whether she 
was an abolitionist? "To be sure, I am; I think too 
much of liberty myself, to wish to have innocent people 
enslaved for a moment," was her ready answer. 



442 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

I will just say here, that as the masters want their 
labour constantly, it is very seldom that they imprison 
their slaves. The slave would, doubtless, leap for joy, 
for the preference of being imprisoned and working ten 
hours a day with the vilest criminals, and the greatest 
villains in the land, to toiling sixteen hours a day for 
nothing, in the burning sugar, cotton, and rice fields, 
with the frequent cruel whippings from his merciless 
driver, and his quart of corn a day ! ! ! But the treat- 
ment our guilty States' prison convicts receive, is alto- 
gether too good, says this oppressive nation, for two and 
a half millions of men, women, and children, who are 
charged with no offence against God or man, but their 
being found with a complexion of a sable hue, the work 
of their Maker. The slaveholders' usual mode of pun- 
ishing their slaves, in order to keep them delving on at 
their weary and never ending toils, is by whipping in dif- 
ferent degrees of severity, and cropping off one, and 
sometimes both ears, close to their head. 

This last act of barbarism is said, however, not to be 
practised so much as formerly, as it was found to injure 
the sale of their properly. 

I suppose the ear that was recently sent for an insult 
to Mr. Tappan, of New-York, was lawfully taken (ac- 
cording to their barbarous and piratical slave laws,) from 
the head of some poor slave, for some comparatively 
trifling offence, that would hardly be noticed in a white 
person. I will here give the law in regard to cropping 
off ears. 

If a slave or Indian shall take away, or let loose any 
boat or canoe, from a landing, or any other place 
where the owner may have made the same fast ; for 
the first offence, he shall receive 39 lashes on the bare 



ILLUSTRATED. 443 

back ; and for the second offence, shall forfeit and have 
cut off from his head, one ear. 2d Brev. Dig. 288. 

So as to the first offence in North Carolina and 
Tennessee. Haywood's Manual, 78 — act of 1741, 
chap. 13. 

There is a section of law in Louisiana, which showss 
the haughty and tyrannical spirit which slavery begets, 
even towards free persons unable to resist the tyranni- 
cal power of slaveholders. It is this. 

Free people of colour ought never to insult or strike 
white people, nor presume to think themselves equal to 
the whites, but on the contrary, they ought to yield to 
them on every occasion, and never speak or answer 
them but with great respect, under the penalty of im- 
prisonment, according to the nature of the offence! ! — 
1st Martin's Digest, 840, 42. 

This law is only an unguarded and frank avowal of 
the slaveholder's real feelings towards even free persons, 
who will not succumb to his despotic dictation. They 
not only feel so, but they act it out, by making just such 
laws over them as they please, without their know- 
ledge or consent, when they have the power. 

In South Carolina, if a free negro entertains a runa- 
way slave, he forfeits ten pounds; and if unable to pay 
the fine, which must be the case ninety-nine times in a 
hundred, he is to be sold as a slave for life. In 1827, 
a free woman and her three children, were thus sold, 
for harbouring two little slave children over night ! 

In Mississippi, every free negro or mulatto, not being 
able to prove himself free, (which, when he is free, is 
often entirely out of his power,) is sold as a slave for 
life, and his posterity forever after him. How shocking 



444 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

to every sense of right, that innocent children, with their 
posterity after them forever, should be thus cursed, eith- 
er for a pretended, or a real fault of their parents. This 
provision extends to most of the slave States, and is now 
in full operation in the District of Columbia, to the great 
shame of our guilty partisan nation. The slaveholders 
have many other ways, which they call legal, of dragging 
free people of colour and their posterity after them, into 
endless and hopeless slavery, besides downright kid- 
napping, which is often resorted to by gangs of beings, 
who make slave-hunting with their guns and slave dogs, 
a regular livelihood, for the sake of the high rewards 
bid up for them by the master ; and sometimes the re- 
wards are bid up, saying, "dead or alive." Had it 
been the design of this work, I could here describe nu- 
merous instances of this kind, almost too shocking to 
relate, as well as most inhuman and barbarous treatment 
by the masters and drivers. But I must forbear. 

The unrighteous and oppressive laws against free 
people of colour, are enacted, both from the slavehold- 
er's desire to increase the number of their slaves by re- 
ducing them back to slavery, and also, from their general 
hatred and suspicion of all free people of colour, as well 
as free whiles, who will not tamely submit to have their 
mouths padlocked on the great and vital subject of hu- 
man liberty. 

Slaveholders entertain the same hatred and suspicions 
against, and the same desire to subject to their own des- 
potic control, all freemen, without regard to colour, who 
dare say a word against slavery ; or rather, who are not 
sworn advocates for slavery itself; or, as they more 
smoothly say, their " peculiar or delicate institutions." 



ILLUSTRATED. 445 

Hence we must see the utter impracticability of freemen 
and slaveholders ever dwelling together in unity in the 
same republic. Indeed they should not so dwell, for 
it would only be the peace of death, and not that " peace 
of God which passeth all understanding." 

This republic might stand forever, if the whole fab* 
ric was based on universal freedom and equal rights, 
and practically and scrupulously carried out ; for all the 
people, as one man, would then sustain it. Upon these 
principles, by the blessing of Heaven, we might become 
a great, an honourable, and a distinguished nation ; the 
centre of attraction for the world. But as it now is, a 
mighty struggle will forever be kept up between the 
north and the south, until it shall be determined whether 
all the labouring population of the whole country shall 
be slaves, or all freemen. Whenever I have beheld 
furious rioters, (the servile tools of despots behind the 
scene,) I have thought to myself, poor men ! did you 
but know that you are forging yokes for your own necks, 
and chains for your own limbs, you would quickly desist. 
But I fear sometimes that they will not know this until 
too late. 

This struggle between liberty and slavery will not 
the less exist, because many may not be so fully aware 
of it, until too late, when all will be over. This is no 
fiction, but is the language of " truth and soberness," 
and is what some of us and our children will undoubt- 
edly realize, either for " weal or for wo." The time 
is already rapidly approaching, when but two distinct 
voices will be heard on the subject of slavery, in our 
whole country, either " I am for slavery, or I am for 
freedom." All idle apologies and vain pretexts will 
be blown to the four winds. At present, many avoid 

38 



446 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

the test by resorting to heartless sophistry, and ingen* 
ious subterfuge for hiding places ; but there is one who 
knows we cannot serve two masters, and he will soon 
call us out, as by the mouth of a Joshua, and say to us 
in a voice which cannot be resisted, "Choose ye this day 
whom ye will serve ; if the Lord be God, serve him, 
and if Baal, serve him." 

One important fact I cannot forbear here to notice i 
it shows clearly the iron rod of terror constantly held 
over the poor trembling slave. It is this: that all white 
persons, of every age and character, in reality are con- 
stituted by law, absolute despots over the stave. With 
very few exceptions, the penal laws to which slaves are 
subject, relate not to the violation of any moral or divine 
laws whatever. Positive and arbitrary institutions are 
their only sanction. Thus, if a slave is found beyond 
the limits of the town in which he lives, or of the planta- 
tion where he is usually employed, without the company 
of a white person, or without the written permission of 
his master, employer, &c. any person may apprehend 
him, and punish him with whipping on the bare back, 
not exceeding twenty lashes. Brevard's Digest, 231 : 
Prince's Digest, 427. In Mississippi, similar punishment 
by direction of a justice of the peace ; Mississippi Rev. 
Code, 371. So also in Virginia and Kentucky, at the 
discretion of the justice, both as to the imposition of the 
punishment and the number of stripes. 1 . Virginia, Rev. 
Code, 422; 2d Litt. and Swi. Dig. 1150; and see 2 
Missouri Laws, 741 - 2 ; ibid. 614. For travelling by 
himself from his master's land to any other place, un- 
less by the most usual and accustomed road, the owner 
of the land on which said slave may be found, is author- 
ized to inflict forty lashes upon him. Haywood's Man- 



ILLUSTRATED. 447 

ual, 51S, (act of 1729.) For travelling in the night without 
a pas3, forty lashes : ibid. Any person may lawfully 
kill a slave who has been outlawed for running away, 
and lurking in swamps, &c. Haywood's Manual, 524 : 
(act of 1753.) And if a slave be out of the house, or 
off the plantation of his master, without some white 
person in company, and shall refuse to submit to an ex- 
amination of any white person, such white person may 
apprehend and whip him ; and if he shall assault and 
strike said white person, he may be lawfully killed. 2 
Brevard's Digest, 231 ; Prince's Digest, 447. 

A slave endeavouring to entice another slave to run 
away, if provisions, &c. be prepared for the purpose of 
aiding in such running away, shall be punished with 
death : 2d Brevard's Digest, 223 and 244 : and the 
slave who shall aid and abet the slave so endeavouring 
to entice another slave to run away, shall also suffer 
death ! ! ibid. In Maryland, 39 stripes on the naked 
back, is the penalty for harbouring a slave one hour ! ! 
Act of 1748, chap. 19, 4. If a slave shall presume 
to strike any white person, such slave, upon trial and 
conviction, before the justice or justices, according to 
flie discretion of this act, shall, for the first offence, suffer 
such punishment as the said justice or justices shall, in 
his or their discretion, think fit, not extending to life or 
limb ; for the second offence he must suffer death ! ! I 
To show the unrighteous and unequal treatment of 
slaves and white persons, in Virginia alone, there 
are in their slave code 71 offences for which the slaves 
suffer death, none of which are capital offences in 
whites. In the city of Savannah, any person who 
teaches a free negro to read or write incurs a penalty of 
thirty dollars. Of course a father cannot instruct his 



448 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

own children. In Maryland, a justice of the peace may 
order a free negro's ears to be cut off fop striking a 
white person. In Kentucky, for the same offence, ho 
is to receive thirty lashes, " well laid on," which is the 
language of the law. In Georgia, a white man is liable 
to a fine of 500 dollars for teaching a free negro to read 
or write. If any free negro teach another, he is to be 
fined and whipped at the discretion of the court. Should 
a free negro presume to preach to, or exhort his compan- 
ions, he may be seized without warrant, and whipped 
39 lashes, and the same number of lashes may be 
applied to each one of his congregation by any person, 
without trial. No wonder that such laws make Lynchites 
of people without regard to colour. Who must not see 
that Lynchism, despotism, and " mobism" are the legiti- 
mate offsprings of slavery in this nation? Can it be that 
the people will laugh at these dreadful realities until they 
see their folly in mourning for their calamity? 

In Virginia* should free negroes, or their children 
assemble at a school to learn reading or writing, any 
justice of the peace may dismiss the same with twenty 
lashes on the back of each pupil. By a late law of 
Maryland, a free coloured person coming into the state, 
is liable to a fine of fifty dollars for every week he re- 
mains in it If he cannot pay the fine, he is to be sold 
a slave for life, and his children forever after him. 

In Louisiana, the penalty of instructing a free black 
in a Sunday school, is, for the first offence, $500 ; for 
the second offence, death ! ! ! 

In North Carolina, if a slave run away, by the master 
going through the idle and mock ceremony to make affi- 
davit of it before a justice, the justice then issues a pro- 



ILLUSTRATED. 449 

clamation, ordering the slave (who cannot read) imme- 
diately back to his master ; and if the poor slave does not 
learn how to read it, and obey the summons forthwith, any 
person may kill him. 

And also, when the owner of the slave has just taken 
this " legal step," he can bid up a public reward for him, 
saying, " dead or alive" " so that he can see him." 

I will here cite a very few specimens, from public do- 
cuments, going to show what slavery really is, that the 
reader may judge whether he would like it better than 
freedom, with even " starvation at his door, and poverty 
in rags." 

To the Editors of the Constitutionalist. 

Aiken, S.C., Dec. 20, 1836. 
I have just returned from an inquest I held over the 
dead body of a negro man, a runaway, that was shot 
near the South Edisto, in this district, (Barnwell,) on 
Saturday morning last. He came to his death by his 
own recklessness. He refused to be taken alive ; and 
said, that other attempts to take him had been made, 
and he was determined that he would not be taken. 
When taken he was nearly naked — had a large dirk or 
knife and a heavy club. He was at first (when those 
who were in pursuit of him found it absolutely neces- 
sary,) shot at with small shot, with the intention of 
merely crippling him. He was shot at several times, 
and at last was so disabled as to be compelled to sur- 
render. He kept in the run of a creek in a very 
dense swamp all the time that the neighbours were in 
pursuit of him. As soon as the negro was taken, the 
best medical aid was procured, but he died on the same 

38* 



450 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

evening. One of the witnesses at the inquisition stated 
that the negro boy said that he was from Mississippi, and 
belonged to so many persons, he did not know who his 
master was ; but again he said, his master's name was 
Brown. He said his own name was Sam ; and when 
asked by another witness who his master was, he mut- 
tered something like Augusta or Augustine. The boy 
was apparently above 35 or 40 years of age, about six 
feet high, slightly yellow in the face, very long beard or 
whiskers, and very stout built, and a stern countenance ; 
and appeared to have been a runaway a long time. 

William H. Pritchard, 
Coroner, (ex officio,) Barnwell Dist., S. C. 
{£jf* The Mississippi and other papers will please copy 
the above. — Georgia Constitutionalist. 

$100 REWARD. — Ran away from the subscriber, 
living on Herring Bay, Ann Arundel County, Md., on 
Saturday, 28th January, negro man Elijah, who calls 
himself Elijah Cook ; is about 21 years of age, well 
made, of a very dark complexion ; has an impediment in 
his speech, and a scar on his left cheek bone, apparently 
occasioned by a shot. 

J. Scrivener. 

Jlnapolis (Md.) Rep., Feb. 1837. 

$40 RE WARD. — Ran away from my residence near 
Mobile, two negro men, Isaac and Tim. Isaac is from 
25 to 30 years old, dark complexion, scar on the right 
side of the head, and also one on the right side of the 
body, occasioned by buck shot. Tim is 22 years old, 
dark complexion* scar on the right cheek* as also an- 



ILLUSTRATED. 451 

other on the back of the neck. Captains and owners of 
steamboats, vessels, and water crafts of every descrip- 
tion, are cautioned against taking them on board, under 
the penalty of the law ; and all other persons against 
harbouring or in any manner favouring the escape of said 
negroes, under like penalty. 

Mobile, Sept. 1. Sarah Walsh. 

Montgomery (Jlla.) Advertiser, Sept. 29, 1837. 

$200 REWARD. — Ran away from the subscriber, 
about three years ago, a certain negro man named Ben, 
(commonly known by the name of Ben Fox.) He is> 
about five feet five or six inches high, chunky made, 
yellow complexion, and has but one eye. Also, one 
other negro, by the name of Rigdon, who ran away on 
the 8th of this month. He is stout made, tall, and very 
black, with large lips. 

I will give the reward of one hundred dollars for each 
of the above negroes, to be delivered to me, or confined 
in the jail of Lenoir or Jones county, or for the killing 
of them so that 1 can see them. Masters of vessels and 
all others are cautioned against harbouring, employing, 
or carrying them away, under the penalty of the law. 

W. D. Cobb. 

Lenoir county, N.C., Nov. 12, 1836, 

Instances of what any one whose heart had not be- 
come callous, and w seared* as it were, with a hot iron," 
in the pestiferous moral atmosphere of slavery, or in 
some way by reaping the spoils of slavery, would deem 
the most tyrannical and barbarous punishments for com- 
paratively trifling offences, might be quoted from official 



452 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

documents, almost without number ! ! But our minds 
sicken and revolt at such examples of " man 1 8 inhumanity 
to man 9 which make countless thousands mourn." 

I deem it my painful duty, however, to cite a single 
case or two here, out of volumes of similar and of still 
more aggravated ones, which will serve to give some 
idea of American slavery to such as may have any de- 
sire to know what it really is, with all the endless train 
of miseries and woes which it entails upon our fellow- 
creatures, by reducing them to a level with brutes and 
with goods, wares, and merchandise, and thereby ren- 
dering them liable, to all intents and purposes whatso- 
ever, to be lawfully seized and sold as such at public 
sale, regardless of age, condition, or sex. It will, of 
course, be borne in mind, that the southern definition 
of a slave is a human being, (if a man,) who can neither 
own himself, his wife, his children, nor any species of 
property whatever, and is subject to the will of his 
master, like the ox, and to all lawful claims of debt in 
the same sense ; and what is worse, and more cruelly 
tyrannical than all, is made amenable to, and punished 
for the violation of all the laws of the land r which he is 
allowed no part in making, and of which, as the slave- 
holders say, he is necessarily and arbitrarily kept en- 
tirely ignorant of. 

In Louisiana, moreover, slaveholders once carried 
on the high-handed process of violating all the rights of 
man, by first uncrealing the slave as a man, then re- 
creating him a chattel, then uncreating him a chattel, 
and recreating him real eslate>by passing a law prohibit- 
ing the landholder ever separating the poor bound slave 
from the patch of the " mother earth " of his owner. — 
(Martin's Digest, 610.) 



ILLUSTRATED. 45{3 

Virginia also made slaves real estate, by a law passed 
1705. (Beverley's Hist, of Virginia, p. 98.) The pre- 
cise date of the repeal of this slaveholding enactment is 
not at hand. It is supposed to have been, however, 
about the time "the old dominion" became the chief 
" slave-breeder" for the cotton-growing and sugar-plant- 
ing country, and made young men and women, " from 
fifteen to twenty-five," the main staple production of the 
state. 

So we see that, through avarice and cupidity, mon- 
ster-men, according to circumstances and power, can 
convert and reconvert his fellow-man into any shape he 
will ; and, to cap the climax of his profanation, look up 
with sanctimonious eyes, and call for the benedictions 
of Heaven to sanctify the deed ! ! ! 

The merciful man has ever been regarded as merci- 
ful even to his beast. Indeed, there are thousands of 
men, except in cases of emergency, who will never 
suffer their horses or their oxen to be driven by any 
hand but their own, or by some one immediately in 
their employ. But what is the practice of slaveholders 
with their human cattle? A large proportion of their 
plantations is rented out to their merciless " soul driv- 
ers," and stocked with human stock ; and these task- 
masters treat these wretched men and women doomed 
to slavery upon the same avaricious policy that some 
men would so many oxen or horses under the same 
irresponsible circumstances, — that is, overwork them 
and underfeed them, to make all out of them possible. 

This is slavery ! ! It is unnecessary to enter into the 
detailed cruel consequences of such a bloody despotic 
system over man. It is true it might fill volumes. 



454 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

Some years ago a young man emigrated from New- 
Hampshire to the state of Louisiana, where, after he 
became settled, he formed, with a quarteroon slave of 
his own, one of those contubernial connexions so com- 
mon in the far south as to carry with them but little 
disrepute. Two daughters were the fruit of their con- 
nexion. They were not grown up, when the mother 
died a slave. The father was careful to bestow on them 
a good, if not an accomplished education. Through 
mere neglect, as in the case of their mother, he did not 
emancipate them according to the forms required by 
law. The eldest had arrived at the age of sixteen, and 
the other at fourteen. At this time the father died, 
leaving his two handsome, well-educated, and tenderly 
reared daughters with a good estate, as it was supposed, 
for their comfortable support. A brother residing in 
New-Hampshire, on hearing of his death, went on to 
Louisiana to attend to the adjustment of the estate and 
to the interest of his nieces. He entered on the admi- 
nistration ; and, to his great surprise, found, after he 
had made considerable progress in the payment of the 
claims, that the estate would, in all likelihood, prove 
insolvent. He continued, however, to discharge them 
as they were presented till all the resources of the estate 
were exhausted, except his two nieces, who by the laws 
of Louisiana were slaves and assets in his hands* So 
monstrous a thing as selling them had never once en- 
tered his mind. He was, however, reminded of this 
remaining resource by some of the creditors whose 
balances were undischarged. He replied, in amaze- 
ment, " They are my brother's children ! !" " That is 
nothing to us," they rejoined ; " they are the property 



Illustrated. 455 

of the estate, liable for the payment of our claims — are 
likely— will sell well, and must be sold, unless from 
your private means you can advance the sums they 
would bring." This he was unable to do — avarice 
called for the law — and his deceased brother's children 
were set up and sold at public auction before his own 
eyes* 

This seems to us, as it truly is, horrible! — but is it 
any more so, than what slavery cruelly compels the 
dearest friends every day to witness? Let a northern 
state pass an act that the corpses of all deceased per- 
sons, without distinction of sex, should be holden in law 
and liable to be sold for all claims of debt against the 
individuals while living, or against their connexions 
either living or deceased, the whole nation, slaveholders 
and all, would at once be shocked and horrified. But 
would this be doing greater violence to our natures, or 
to the rights of humanity, thus to arrest the repose of 
the dead, than by all the tyrannical and profane laws of 
slaveholding, for the same cause to disturb the peace, 
and invade all the inalienable rights and liberties of the 
living, by selling them into a dreaded, and a dreadful 
bondage for ever ? 

** In the legislature of South Carolina, on the 14th 
December, 1837, a petition was received from James 
Patterson, (a free coloured man,) praying for liberty to 
manumit his wife and children, then his slaves." 

Now, if this legislature, as is their general rule, 
would not grant the prayer of this husband and father 
but on the painful condition that the wife and children 
consent to be colonized immediately to Africa, the only 
alternative left the poor man, if he desired to retain his 



456 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

own wife and children, would be to keep out of debt 
and keep well insured, lest some rapacious slaveholding 
creditor sell them away from him with his cattle and 
his swine. humanity ! how art thou fallen from thy 
sphere a " little lower than that of the angels." 

Finally, there is no way in which we can see and feel 
the terrible tyranny and cruelty of slavery like carefully 
reading all the slave laws, and fully conceiving their 
operation in their tremendous and crushing power upon 
human liberty, and human happiness. 

The following extract from a late address of Alvan 
Stewart, Esq. before the Vermont Anti-slavery Society, 
though found in some of the public journals, like some 
others which I have quoted, is nevertheless worthy a 
place even on the pages of history : — 

" The Florida war, which has already cost this na- 
tion $12,000,000, and has spilt so much human blood, 
caused so much human suffering, and wasted so much 
human life, had its origin in slavery. A female slave, 
at some former time, escaped from Georgia into Florida, 
and was married by an Indian. In process of time the 
daughter of this pair became the wife of OSEOLA. 
The proprietor of the fugitive, after her death, ascer- 
tained that the wife of Oseola was her daughter ; in per- 
son, or by proxy, seized her in an unguarded moment, 
dragged her into Georgia, and made her a slave. The 
great and greatly injured son of the forest resolved on 
revenge, and pursuing the kidnapper, availed himself of 
an opportunity to shoot him through the heart," 

Thus we have the origin of a long and bloody war, 
commenced and carried on principally at the instigation 
of slaveholding politicians, to drive the natives from their 
own lands to make room for their slavery. 



ILLUSTRATED. 457 

In relation to this war, Major General Jessup, the 
commanding officer of the army, in a letter to the Se- 
cretary of War, Feb. 11, 1838, uses the following lan- 
guage : — " My decided opinion is, that unless immedi- 
ate emigration be abandoned, the war will continue for 
years to come ; and at constantly accumulating ex- 
pense." This officer further says, in the same official 
communication, " we have committed the error of at- 
tempting to remove them (the Indians) when their lands 
were not required for agricultural purposes ; when they 
were not in the way of the white inhabitants ; and when 
the greater portion of their country was an unexplored 
wilderness, of the interior of which we were as ignorant 
as of the interior of China." We find in this authentic 
document also the following : — *' I do not consider the 
country south of Chickasa Hatchee worth the medicines 
we shall expend in driving the Indians from it." 

It will be remembered, that Mr. Calhoun and his as- 
sociates, in the late Senate of the United States, claimed 
that the 15,000 slaves in the territory of Florida were 
held constitutionally, consequently all that slaveholders 
ask of the people of this Union to carry on this unholy 
crusade, is enough of their treasures and their blood, in 
some way to exterminate the Florida Indians, either by 
massacreing them, or by driving them from their native 
lands, to make their country a slaveholding country, — 
to all intents and purposes whatsoever. So we find the 
sum of all the southern Indian wars, in which this whole 
guilty nation have ever been engaged, is to drive off the 
poor Indians by the point of the bayonet, and bring on 
the poor Africans loaded with chains. 

Here we see that this whole nation have ever been 



458 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

compelled, by slaveholding power and for slaveholding 
purposes, at a great sacrifice of life and treasure, to 
carry on these bloody and wicked wars of slaveholding 
"expediency." 

In a late proclamation of General Scott to the Chero- 
kees, who is now commissioned either to exterminate 
them, or immediately compel them to emigrate beyond 
the Mississippi, and forever abandon their own country 
and the graves of their fathers, we find this most extra- 
ordinary language to overawe the weaker party into 
compliance. " Thousands and thousands are approach- 
ing from every quarter to render resistance or escape im- 
possible." 

These dreadfully wicked Indian wars, which rend the 
very Heavens for vengeance upon this nation, now reek- 
ing with so much innocent blood, will yet be found to 
be, beginning, middle, and end, altogether and exclu- 
sively a slaveholding policy to remove every possible 
obstruction to slaveholding despotism throughout the 
dark dominions of slavery. 

Who that believes that justice has not utterly fled 
both from Heaven and from earth, must not feel, that 
unless we pause in our Heaven-daring and high-handed 
career, all this will, ere long, prove to this nation an 
44 expediency," with a most dreadful and " untold venge- 
ance." 

Add to all this enormous wickedness, the daily prac- 
tices at the seat of our national government, (boastfully 
styled the freest on earth,) how does our whole nation 
appear, crimsoned over with the innocent blood of our 
countrymen] Creatures bearing the external forms of 
men, making it their daily business to seize, without 



ILLUSTRATED. 459 

ceremony, all coloured persons not known as residents 
there, upon the mere pretence thai they are runaway 
slaves, and thrust them into prisons built with the people's 
money for entirely different purposes, and there confine 
them often for many months, waiting for an owner to 
apply, while these innocent men and women were as- 
serting their freedom, (though often not able to prove it,) 
and begging for deliverance. After thus advertising 
and confining them often from four to eight months, no 
owners have appeared — what then 1 Set free 1 Yes ; 
from the prison, but sold into slavery, with their pos- 
terity after them forever, for their jail fees. More than 
450, from the keepers documents, have thus been kid- 
napped and confined for sale in five years. 

There is a systematic atrocity in this nefarious busi- 
ness, which far exceeds in wickedness the more sum- 
mary and still bolder outrages of the most bloody bar- 
barians that have ever disgraced the human race. Add 
to this the gentlemen kidnappers, who shamelessly pa- 
rade the streets of the capital of the reputed freest peo- 
ple in the world, and often talk largely of liberty and of 
our free institutions in the halls of Congress, while they 
are filling the Washington public journals with adver- 
tisements similar to the one below. And who that loves 
his country or his kind, must not desire to be innocent 
of all participation whatever in deeds so direful? 

"CASH FOR 400 NEGROES, 

" including both sexes, from 12 to 25 years of age. 
Persons having likely servants to dispose of, will find it 
to their interest to give us a call, as we will give higher 



460 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

prices in cash than any other purchaser, who is now or 
who may hereafter come into this market. 

■* Franklin & Armfield." 

I will give but this single specimen of gentlemanly 
kidnapping, and, — I had it upon the end of my pen to 
say piracy, — but recollecting that hitherto the wisdom 
of the Congress of the United States has discovered 
more moral turpitude in water than in land traffic in 
human flesh, I forbore. While Congress has made a 
law, declaring the foreign slave traffic piracy and worthy 
of death, the same Congress, to encourage the same 
traffic at home, grants license for it as they would to 
traffic in ardent spirits, or in any other commodity of 
earth. 

I will just say in short, that the slaveholder's slave le- 
gislation, is, to legislate all possible rights from the poor 
slave into his own tyrannical hands. Even the very 
life of the slave, is virtually at the despotic will of his 
master, for the slaveholder's guard law is, (which of 
course he made to shield himself, not the slave,) that no 
slave or coloured person, can in any possible case, be 
a witness against a white person. Says Judge Stroud, 
in his invaluable extracts from the slave laws, " It is 
an inflexible and universal rule of slave law, that the tes- 
timony of a coloured person, whether bond or free, can- 
not be received against a white person ! !* 

It should also be known to every American citizen, 
and to every lover of freedom and equal rights in the 
land, that American tyrants, and American despots, 

* Stroud, p. 27. 



ILLUSTRATED. 461 

while they are constantly talking loudly and boastfully 
of" human liberties" of*' equal rights,*' of "free institu- 
tions" of (he "freest nation on earth" &c. &c. will not 
allow two and a half millions of their incessant and hard 
toiling countrymen to be a party before a judicial tri- 
bunal, even at the capital of this so styled "freest go- 
vernment on earth" in any species of action against any 
person, no matter how atrocious the injury received ! !* 
This is American slavery ; and, American freemen, how 
would you like it? Says H. B. Stanton, Esq., in that 
blaze of light in his inimitable remarks before the Com- 
mittee of the House of Representatives of Massa- 
chusetts, " The slave statute uncreates the slave as a man, 
and recreates him a chattel. 

A case never has been known, of the execution of a 
white person for the killing or murdering of a slave, 
though numerous instances of shocking murder are well 
known to have been perpetrated. In view of the ne- 
cessity of all these inhuman laws, to reduce man to 
such vile and unequal subjection to his fellow, we can 
hardly avoid making this single reflection, " that the 
brute toils through the day submissive to man, as he was 
designed to be ; lies down at night, and his lawful owner 
finds him in the morning, without his having thrown 
about him the tripple guard of arms, of dogs, and cruel 

* Fora full exhibition of the mountain of oppression that crush- 
es so many of our suffering countrymen, see Stroud, p. 25, and 
onward. Indeed the coloured people called free, hold their mock 
freedom by a very loose and uncertain tenure throughout the en- 
tire slave States, for they can all be banished from the slave States 
by their despotic laws, and their property confiscated, upon any 
pretended suspicion of them on the part of the whites. 

39* 



462 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

and rigorous laws ; but not so with man, for he has an im- 
mortal and restless spirit within him, bearing the image of 
its Maker, which, however crushed by all the oppression 
of man, cannot be entirely obliterated ; but, as the poet 
well says — 

* The soul uneasy and confined from home, 
Rests, and expatiates in a life to come." 

Slaveholders themselves cannot but be conscious of 
the great guilt and crime of the awful and fearful violence 
they a»-e doing to the eternal principles enstamped by the 
Deity upon immortal man. On this dread subject, so 
nearly allied to the very throne of the Almighty, one of 
Virginia's noblest sons in her representative body in 1829, 
amid the very chains that bind the soul in the dark bond- 
age of slavery, was constrained on a certain occasion, 
in a tone of the most impassioned and thrilling eloquence, 
to hold forth the following language : — " Sir," said he, 
addressing himself to the speaker, " you may take a slave 
and place him where you please ; oppress him as you 
will ; you may close upon his mind every avenue to 
knowledge, and cloud it over with artificial night; you 
may yoke him like the ox to the furrow, which works 
but to live, and lives but to work ; you may dry up to the 
uttermost the fountain of his feelings, the springs of his 
thought ; finally, you may put him under any process 
that shall tend to crush and debase him as a human 
being, and yet after all you can do, the idea that he is 
born to be free will survive it all. It is allied to his hope 
of immortality. It is a torch lit up in his soul by the 
hand of the Deity, and never meant to be extinguished 
by the hand of man," 



ILLUSTRATED. 46S 

In glancing at the bloody fields of American slavery ; 
of all on earth the most dreadful, strewed over with hand- 
cuffs, whips, and chains, for so large a portion of our inno- 
cent fellow countrymen, we can hardly avoid also hold- 
ing up this fallen world before our affected vision with 
all its oppressions, its miseries* and its woes, the sinful 
result of man's inhumanity to man, and in the well 
known language of the philanthropic poet exclaim — 

" My ear is pained — 
My soul is sick, with every day's report 
Of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled. 
There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart, 
It does not feel for man. The nat'ral bond 
Of brotherhood is sever'd as the flax 
That falls asunder at the touch of fire. 
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin 
Not coloured like his own ; and having power 
T' enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause, 
Dooms him, and devotes him as his lawful prey, 
And chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat 
With stripes, that mercy, with a bleeding heart, 
Weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast." 

Such sentiments, though familiar to every school boy, 
as " household words," are worthy to be kept in remem- 
brance, for they will forever do honour to human nature. 
It was the breathing forth of this spirit by the English 
writers which has at length melted off the chains of 
Briton's slaves. American slaveholders full well know 
this, and fear and tremble before it, while they are still 
so deluded as actually to be engaged in making every 
violent and unconstitutional effort to shut out from their 
borders all the literature of the world, because it is in- 
terwoven with these manly sentiments, and imbued 
with this heavenly spirit. 



464 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 

We should all naturally think, that when they once 
know what slavery is, every non-slaveholding, disinte- 
rested, and unsophisticated person in the world, would 
at once be a " whole souled abolitionist ." 

But when we consider how much the public mind has 
been corrupted by the smooth deceptive doctrine of "ex- 
pediency," now but another name for selfishness or dis- 
honesty ; and when we consider also the chains, and 
the trammels of party political interests, between the 
north and the south, the wicked deep-rooted prejudice 
against colour, (or more strictly caste,) commercial in- 
terests, with all their flattering prospects of gain, and a 
powerful sympathy between northern and southern ec- 
clesiastical bodies of the same denomination, and many 
other similar interests which are all to be broken through, 
in order to testify plainly against slavery as we ought; 
we do not so much wonder, that the wicked, selfish, and 
timorous heart, unaided by divine influence, shrinks 
back upon itself, from so high, so holy, so self-denying 
and responsible a duty, as that of openly and fearlessly 
advocating the right of the immediate emancipation of 
two and a half millions of our countrymen from their 
heavy and miserable yoke of bondage. But in the sight 
of Him, the "habitations of whose throne are justicejand 
judgement ;" and in view of our whole country, and pos- 
terity, will all these be sufficient reasons for us to turn 
away our eyes, and our thoughts, from the suffering and 
the dumb, who cannot speak for himself, and leave him 
to perish in his dreadful, physical, mental, and moral 
bondage forever 1 

Let our naked consciences answer this before our final 
Judge. And now, in conclusion of these remarks, the 



ILLUSTRATED. 465 

reader will permit me to say, that I have watched the 
signs of the times somewhat, and that I feel impressed 
with the important fact, that our beloved country is big 
with coming events. With a territory already, (without 
Texas,) more than equal to the vast empire of China, and 
capable, in its highest state of cultivation, of sustaining 
the immense population of four or live hundred millions of 
souls, and yet, no room for the freedom of two and a 
half millions of our enslaved fellow-countrymen ; and in- 
stead of breaking his bonds, we are sinking the bloody 
iron of oppression deeper and still deeper into his soul. 
Not content with our present vast dominions, but grasp- 
ing at still more, to lengthen and strengthen the chains of 
the bondman, but not to make him free, but with a two- 
fold tendency, to enslave forever both blacks and whites. 
Though I fear that I have already too much trespassed 
on the time and patience of ruy reader, yet, I have said 
but little, to what might and should be said on this mo- 
mentous subject, both for the temporate and eternal 
well-being of the born and the unborn millions of the 
greatly oppressed bondman in our land, for the preser- 
vation and perpetuity of our own liberties, and for the 
good of our whole country, and the world. 

And now, in view of our high and solemn responsi- 
bilities to ourselves, to posterity, and above all, to the 
coming day of final retribution, near at hand to us all, 
will we act the part of the " good Samaritan," to pour 
wine and oil into the grievous wounds of the suffering and 
the dumb, or will we " pass by on the other side ?" 

Whether the Almighty in his holy and righteous anger, 
for our crying sins, will destroy us as a nation, or in 
mercy save us, we know not. If he do not destroy us 



466 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY ILLUSTRATED. 

speedily, it will surely be on account of his infinite mercy 
and forbearance. I believe, with all our efforts in behalf 
of the oppressed, and of a world lying in wickedness, our 
unceasing and most earnest prayer should be, that in the 
midst of so greatly deserved wrath and judgements on 
account of our Heaven-daring sins as a people, a justly 
offended God would still forbear, and stay his uplifted 
hand, and bring us all to speedy and unfeigned repent- 
ance, that we shall put far from us all our grievous op- 
pressions and abominations as a nation, that he may still 
remember mercy. 



314-77-2 



